


Stealing our place in the Sun

by UpInOrbit



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: A little angst, Alternate Universe - Fairy Tale, Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Ambiguous/Open Ending, Fairy Tale Style, M/M, Magic, kinda enemies to lovers, mentioned or referenced Dream OT7, more or less
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-15
Updated: 2020-03-15
Packaged: 2021-02-27 21:47:51
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 24,694
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22852756
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/UpInOrbit/pseuds/UpInOrbit
Summary: When Renjun went to sleep, the last thing he expected was to wake up inside one of his childhood stories — as the villain. The only way to go back is (hopefully) to ensure he can give the main love interests the happy ending they never got in the original story. But as he progresses in his quest, Renjun finds the handsome prince is making him question his every motive and whether or not he really wants the love story to progress. Either way, whatever it is he does, he must do it fast, before he becomes trapped in the fairytale forever.
Relationships: Huang Ren Jun/Wong Kun Hang | Hendery
Comments: 24
Kudos: 52
Collections: 99' ft 00' fic fest





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And hereby I present you prompt #FT276!   
> Dear prompter, I just want to tell you I fell in love with your prompt the first time I read it, and I knew I had to write it. I feel like this could have been better if I had had more time to properly flesh it out but I still hope you'll enjoy it and it was up to parr with your expectations! The title comes from [Starset's It has begun](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZp3Mtn-YsI), a song I absolutely love.  
> This fic is here today because I didn't give up halfway through (which was a very real possibility with my exams) and that's all thanks to the people who have cheered me on when I most needed it. You know who you are, and just know I love you and I can never thank you enough for being beside me all the time <333

“Are we really going to do this?” Renjun asks, to which Hyuck groans.

“Of course we are! Why do you think I even brought this with me?” The question is followed by a loud thump, as Hyuck places a very big, very old book on Renjun’s coffee table. 

The impact makes said table tremble, threatening to give out, and Renjun’s frown deepens as he suspiciously eyes the book like it has personally wronged him. A foot comes to rest against one of the table’s legs to support it and Renjun looks up, meeting Jaemin’s eyes as he throws him a sheepish smile. 

Renjun glares at him for a moment before turning his eyes to look at Hyuck once again.

“You can’t possibly think this is going to work, Hyuck,” he says, and his friend huffs in response.

“Don’t be such a party pooper, Injun,” Hyuck replies. Renjun’s eyebrows shoot up, disappearing under his fringe, but before he can say anything, Hyuck continues. “It definitely won’t work if we don’t try it and besides, it’s fun! There’s nothing that can go wrong!”

“Famous last words,” Renjun mutters under his breath. 

Jaemin looks at him, amused, and while he seems as sceptical as Renjun, they both know better than to try and deter their friend once he’s got his mind on something, so they settle for the next best thing: light up the candles for him, because they all appreciate having a non-burning room to sit in, and Hyuck is not to be trusted around fire.

Once everything is set up, Renjun turns off the lights. The glow that comes from the candles is the only source of light in the room, and with every timid flicker, they cast shadows over Jaemin and Hyuck’s faces, turning them into completely different people, strangers taking up his friends’ places.

Renjun shrugs that thought away.

Instead, he walks back to his seat, carefully making sure that all the candles are safe, far enough from Hyuck so that his best friend won’t inadvertently throw them to the ground.

“Are we ready?” Hyuck asks with a bright smile, visible even under the dim light.

Jaemin and Renjun’s voices overlap as they reply, Jaemin’s timid ‘yes’ almost drowning in Renjun’s decided ‘no’, and Renjun glares at Jaemin because of course Jaemin would say yes. The other boy raises his hands in defeat and Renjun sighs.

“Where did you say you found this book?” Renjun asks, tapping his fingers on the thick cover of the book.

“A magic shop I found wandering around the city and now stop asking questions, you won’t get me sidetracked, Renjun,” Renjun exhales softly, refraining himself from reaching forward and smacking his friend on the forehead, like his whole body is begging for him to do.

“Let’s get this over with, then, shall we?” He says instead.

Hyuck claps loudly, his smile growing. It’s so big Renjun wonders how Hyuck’s face can even contain it, but he’s long since learned there’s nothing impossible whenever his friend is involved.

“Okey then. Let’s all pick a spell, read it aloud and see what happens. Shut up Renjun, I don’t want to hear it,” he adds just before Renjun raises one of his eyebrows in disdain. “Jaemin, you go first,” he hands the books over to Jaemin, who handles it carefully, much more so than his owner does.

Jaemin turns the pages around, his eyes scanning the letters as he searches for a spell that catches his attention. Renjun finds himself leaning forward, allured by the sound of the paper slowly being turned and the pretty drawings that fill the margins and decorate the end of the pages.

Fake or not, the book _is_ pretty, and Renjun can’t blame his friend for falling into the trap and buying it for himself. Maybe Renjun would have fallen too, if he wasn’t completely broke and a tiny bit _stingy_ , as his friends liked to call him. 

“Do you have one that you want to make?” Hyuck asks and Jaemin shakes his head. His eyes jump from the book Renjun to Hyuck to the book again, before he closes it firmly.

“I don’t know, they all seem weird as fuck, so just choose one for me, whichever you prefer.”

Hyuck looks at Jaemin and raises his brows, slightly surprised.

“Are you sure?” Jaemin nods firmly, and Hyuck smiles. “No take-backs, though,” Jaemin’s next nod is less sure and Renjun sends him a pitying look, both well-aware of what the spark in Hyuck’s eyes mean.

But it’s too late to turn back now, and Hyuck grabs the book, opening it by the index that’s at the back of it. His eyes scan the names written there before he finds the one he was looking for, and lets out a satisfied cry.

“Let’s do this one,” Hyuck turns the book so that it’s facing Jaemin once again. A shadow crosses Jaemin’s face then, so quick it’s almost imperceptible. Hyuck doesn’t even realize it’s there before it’s gone, but Renjun has grown to be an expert at spotting it, reading the signals that mark its appearance, and he worries.

“What spell is it?” Without waiting for a reply, he half throws himself on the table and moves the book a little to read the heading of the page. “A love spell? Really, Hyuck?”

“A spell to find one’s soulmate, Renjun! Don’t look at me like that, don’t you want Jaemin to find his soulmate?”

Renjun purses his lips to keep the words from coming out and looks at Jaemin. He’s smiling, a broad smile that’s only a tad duller, a tiny bit smaller than it usually is. The strain behind it is mostly completely disguised but, again, Renjun has grown to be an expert. He can’t be fooled, not any longer.

“Jaemin, what do you think?”

His friend looks at both of them and shrugs.

“I promised, didn’t I?” Hyuck squeals and claps, delighted, but Renjun isn’t convinced.

“You don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Jaemin,” noticing the seriousness in his voice, Hyuck stares at him, puzzled, like he’s missed something.

“It’ll be fine, Renjun, don’t worry,” Jaemin replies with a light tone, his smile growing bigger. 

It’s when Hyuck goes back to the book that Jaemin lets his smile fade, and mouthes a small ‘thank you’, at Renjun. His eyes are begging for Renjun to let it go, though, and ultimately Renjun decides to listen to him, squeezing his arm for a second, before returning his attention to Hyuck.

"Okey, this one should be fairly simple. Just read the words," Hyuck instructs, and Jaemin leans forward, clearing his throat.

The words are harsh, foreign sounds in Jaemin's mouth and he struggles to pronounce them. He stutters a few times and, while a part of Renjun is convinced the spell is nothing but complete bullshit, he's surprised it sounds so much like a real language.

Jaemin has been following the spell with his fingers, carefully moving from one word to another to not lose them, and he's nearing the end of the page. Subconsciously, both Hyuck and Renjun lean closer, waiting expectantly as Jaemin finishes the spell.

The three of them hold their breaths to see if anything happens but, as expected, everything stays as it was. Renjun huffs.

"This was a waste of time," he says, earning a glare from Hyuck. Beside him, Jaemin looks almost relieved.

"Shut up, Renjun. We don't know if it worked or not," Renjun raises an eyebrow and Hyuck scowls. "We don't! The spell is to find your soulmate, but it doesn't have to be immediate," Renjun is not impressed, and Hyuck reads it in his face. Flipping through the pages, Hyuck continues, "it's your turn now so try this one!"

Taking the book from Hyuck's hands with a sigh, Renjun turns it around to read the spell Hyuck has selected for him.

"A spell to be where one is supposed to be," he reads aloud. "Are you being serious?"

Hyuck nods, determined.

"This one should have an immediate effect, shouldn't it?" Jaemin hums in agreement and Renjun doesn't have any choice but to do the same. "Then do it, and we can see what happens. Unless you're scared, of course," Hyuck adds, like an afterthought, and Renjun chooses to ignore him.

"And what if I'm supposed to be here and I don't move?"

Hyuck shrugs.

"If nothing happens we can forget about this," he replies, a gleam in his eye.

Renjun runs a hand through his hair and groans. To Hyuck's delight, he nods.

"But you have to promise we'll do something else when it doesn't work, got it?" Hyuck nods with a devious smile.

"I promise, I promise, now do it!" 

Hyuck's overly excited tone makes Renjun take his sweet time before starting to read the spell, if only to annoy him. He stretches, his arms raised over his head, and rolls his shoulders, before craning his neck from one side to the other. He's met with an unimpressed glare from Hyuck by the time he's finished, and Renjun smiles gleefully, before finally turning his attention to the book.

His spell is one of the few that doesn't have an overly decorated page, with barely a couple of flowers drawn on the corners. It is also quite long, longer than Jaemin's, and Renjun starts sweating as soon as he starts reading the spell aloud.

Like Jaemin's, it seems like a convincing made-up language, but the words are long and complex, strange sounds that he doesn't quite know how to produce. He gets stuck at one point, almost halfway through, but he manages to finish the rest of the incantation without much more trouble.

There's a heartbeat of silence in which the three of them hold their breaths. The world stops spinning for a split second, before resuming its movement.

"Sadly I'm still here, so...," Renjun says, a tad obnoxiously. 

Hyuck frowns, disappointed, and mutters under his breath something that sounds suspiciously like him wishing for Renjun to be gone, which only makes Renjun smile widely. Hugging the book to his chest, Hyuck pouts, and Jaemin and Renjun share a look.

“Hyuckie,” Jaemin singsongs as he throws himself on top of Hyuck. Renjun sits on the other side of Hyuck, placing his head on Hyuck’s shoulder. “Don’t get mad, you were the one who made that promise!” Hyuck's pout just deepens and Jaemin laughs. “Come on, you big baby. At least if we stop playing with the book we can watch a movie. The one you prefer,” he continues to entice Hyuck, who gets an interested gleam in his eyes. “Isn’t that right, Renjun?” Jaemin says, pinching Renjun’s leg when he says nothing.

Renjun hisses, startled, and swats Jaemin’s hand away.

“Of course, Jaemin, whatever film you prefer, Hyuck,” he says, shooting daggers at Jaemin. 

Hyuck pretends to ponder the offer, like they don’t already know what he’s going to say, and what film he’s going to choose. Renjun huffs. The things one does for his friends, right?

***

Three High School Musical movies and one drinking game later, Renjun finds himself finally alone in his living room. Jaemin had to forcefully drag a very clingy and quite drunk Hyuck back home, and he did so with multiple apologies for not being able to stay back and help Renjun tidy up the room.

As much as Renjun assured him it didn’t matter, now that he’s alone and has to face the cleaning of his living room, he finds himself too tired to bring himself to doing so. He loves his friends, dearly, and spending time with them is not something he’d give up for anything in the world, but the truth is that they can be exhausting and he only feels like going to bed and reading until he falls asleep.

Renjun muses over which book to read as he gets ready. It has to be one that’s an easy read, one that he won’t mind not really registering the story of as he slowly loses the battle against sleep. He’s still thinking about it when his eyes get caught on the corner of the bookshelf where he keeps his childhood books.

There aren’t many, if he is to be honest, because Renjun isn’t that much of a nostalgic, but there are a couple and, among those, there’s one book Renjun hasn’t been able to bring himself to throwing away.

It’s not necessarily his favourite. In fact, as a child, he probably hated it more than liked it. It was supposed to be a fairytale but it wasn’t really suitable for children. His mother bought it to him to teach him about the importance of the choices one makes, and the repercussions these have, both on oneself and the others.

As a concept, it was a nice one. When one brought it to reality… Well, the book had multiple endings, depending on the characters decisions, and each one of them was worse than the previous one.

Renjun had spent countless hours going over the book, trying to find a solution to all the problems the characters faced, but no matter what paths he took, what choices he made, they would always end in the same place.

Eventually, he had hated the book. Still, he had kept it, maybe because he had spent so long going over it that a part of him had grown used to it, or maybe just because it reminded him of a very important lesson.

Sighing, Renjun picks up the book and buries himself underneath the covers, ready to spend a night reading.

When he finally surrenders to sleep, his eyes too heavy to stay open, he dreams of a wedding.

***

When Renjun opens his eyes in the morning, he instantly knows something’s wrong. For once, he’s not in his bed, and there’s not a white ceiling over his head, but instead something that looks like the rocky ceiling of a cave.

Renjun closes his eyes and then opens them again, like that would be enough for him to stop seeing things but nothing changes. He’s still not in his bed, and he very much does not know where he is.

“Are you going to wake up or not?” An annoyed voice says from his right and Renjun freezes. Slowly, with his heart beating loudly in his ears, he sits up and turns around to find the owner of the voice.

It’s a boy his age, taller and broader than Renjun himself is, with dark upswept hair and a stony face that’s glaring at Renjun in annoyance. He crosses his arms in front of his chest as he sees Renjun staring at him, his eyes wide, and bears his teeth at him.

“What are you looking at?” The boy all but grunts, and Renjun flinches at the obvious anger in the other’s voice. That seems to surprise him, as he narrows his eyes in something that looks like suspicion. “Is there something wrong?” He asks, and Renjun rushes to shake his head, almost violently so. “If you say so… Anyway, I want to go down to the village,” the boy says.

Renjun blinks owlishly, unsure of what the other is expecting from him.

“Have fun?” Renjun tries, as he sees the frown return to the other’s face, as he stares impatiently at Renjun, like he’s waiting for something.

“ _Have fun_? Are you being serious right now?” The boy huffs in annoyance at Renjun’s blank look. “I guess you are. I need your permission. To go to the village,” he adds, like Renjun is some particularly dense kid with whom he can’t deal right now.

“Hmm… Permission granted?” Renjun attempts, desperately wishing that will be enough to get the other off his back. Instead, it only gets him to stare at Renjun in suspicion.

“Who are you?” The boy suddenly asks.

“Renjun,” he replies automatically, and hopes that’s the correct answer. It seems to be, which is a relief in some ways and concerning in others, but the boy doesn’t not appear to be convinced.

“No, you aren’t. Who am I? What is my name?” He asks then.

Renjun scans the boy from head to toe. He’s wearing an attire that seems to have come from a history book, nothing like the clothes Renjun is used to wearing (even if he has woken up in something similar to what the other boy is wearing). The boy looks annoyed and commanding, and maybe a little bit intimidating, but none of that helps him know who the boy is, or what his name is.

Opening and closing his mouth, Renjun finally shakes his head in defeat.

“I have no idea who you are,” he admits. Even if that was what the boy was looking for, the unexpected admission seems to take him by surprise, his eyes widening as he raises his eyebrows. “I was home and then I woke up here and I don’t know how or why. Hell, I don’t even know where I am.”

There’s a heartbeat of silence and then the boy lets out a startled huff.

“Renjun, you fucking idiot,” he mutters to himself, running his hands through his hair. Renjun shots him an unimpressed glare, offended by his words. “What the hell did you do last night,” he muses aloud.

“I told you, I don’t know,” Renjun replies, slightly affronted, but the other boy shakes his head.

“Not you. My… This Renjun,” he replies. Renjun let’s out a small ‘oh’ of understanding, even if he doesn’t really understand much. “When I left him yesterday night he was going through his books, talking about other worlds or realities or something like that, about who we’d be if we weren't born here, if our circumstances were different and all the bullshit, I wasn’t paying him that much attention,” the boy says and Renjun nods, like his words are shedding any light into the matter and not making him even more confused than he was before. “Anyway, it seems like he succeeded _and_ royally fucked up at the same time,” he adds, letting out a mirthless laugh. “I guess you and him swapped places, so you must be him from some other place.”

“Wait. Are you implying your Renjun does magic?” Renjun interrupts, trying to make sense of what he’s hearing.

The other boy frowns.

“I’m not implying anything. He _does_ magic. Do you not have magic where you come from?” He asks and when Renjun shakes his head, something calculating shines at the back of his eyes. “Well, this Renjun is a wizard, a pretty notorious one for that matter and he must have been the one who brought you here.”

“And how do I get back?” Renjun asks, feeling the desperation closing in.

A shrug is all the response he gets.

“I don’t know. I’m not actually a wizard. More like a pet of sorts, I guess,” the boy snorts, something bitter seeping into his voice. Renjun visibly deflates and it’s then that the boys adds something, like he had been trying to bait that reaction out of Renjun. “I could try to help you, though. If you are willing to help _me_.”

Renjun feels his shackles raise at that, suddenly wary of the other.

“Help you?”

“Yes. See, I am not actually here out of my own free will,” he admits. “I made a deal with this Renjun, a long time ago, and he’s used it to keep me here, with him as his familiar, without being able to leave. I’m sort of his prisoner, to be honest. This Renjun would never set me free, believe me, I’ve tried everything I could, and he’s the only one who can lift the spell but you…,” the boy takes a step closer, his eyes calculating, and Renjun tenses. “You and him are technically the same person. I reckon the spell he put on me would identify you both as the same person so you should be able to lift it.”

“Is that all you want?” Renjun asks, still suspicious. “For me to set you free?”

“That’s all. You lift the spell and I’ll help you figure out how to go back.”

“You said you weren’t a wizard, though. _You_ help me, and I will lift the spell then,” Renjun replies.

The boy purses his lips in displeasure, but he nods.

“It’s a deal then. I am Jeno,” he finally introduces himself. Renjun frowns, the name familiar all of a sudden, until he remembers.

“Wait, Jeno?” A string of images, short and colourful flashes go through his head, leaving him more confused than before. “But… That doesn’t make sense, I…”

“What doesn’t make sense?” Jeno interrupts Renjun’s train of thought, and Renjun presses his lips together, reluctantly looking at Jeno. The other rolls his eyes. “Look, if you want my help, then I need to know everything relevant, otherwise, you might be stuck here forever.”

Renjun stares at Jeno, who sustains his gaze without blinking, seemingly almost bored. Finally, Renjun sighs.

“I think I know who you are…?” Jeno’s eyebrows shoot up and disappear under his fringe, surprised.

“You do?”

“I do! But this makes no sense. You are part of a book. It’s stupid, I’m sure there are many more Jeno’s around the world, but this kinda looks like the drawings from the book so, maybe…”

“I’m part of a what?” Jeno repeats, the confusion on his face twin to the one Renjun’s feeling.

“You are part of a story my mom used to read to me when I was younger. You went to Renjun, or the wizard, he didn’t have a name in the story, for help and he gave it to you,” Jeno’s face darken at that, as Renjun slowly recalls his story. “You wanted wings to fly away from home, to be free to be with the one you loved and he gave them to you, but he never told you when you’d be able to leave and he just bound you to him.”

Jeno’s expression hardens at that, his eyes turning cold, but not before Renjun can see the flash of pain in them. His heart bleeds for the boy in front of him.

“That would be correct,” Jeno manages to say, and Renjun can tell he doesn’t want to speak more of it. “But if you know who I am and I’m part of a story, then I guess you know what happens in the end.”

It is not quite a question, but Renjun knows what Jeno is looking for. He squirms under Jeno’s watchful gaze, pondering how to reply to him.

“This story…,” he starts, carefully. “My mom used to read to me to teach me that not everything has a happy ending. Every choice we make, everything we say and do impacts our path, and sometimes we don’t get a happy ending, no matter how much we try.”

Jeno’s expression doesn’t waver, not even a spark of acknowledgement for what Renjun has just said shining in his eyes, but Renjun still feels bad for him, for giving him news he most likely didn’t want.

“I see…,” he replies, his voice sounding a bit strangled. Jeno blinks his eyes rapidly, like he’s trying to get rid of tears, and shakes his head once before taking a deep breath. “Renjun was doing a spell that brought people from other universes, I guess, but why you? Were you the only one available or is there something else?”

Renjun pales at the words.

“Yesterday night, I was with some friends and we… One of my friends brought a spellbook and I read one of the spells, one that would bring me to the place I was supposed to be,” he says and Jeno opens his mouth, letting a soft _ah_ of understanding. “But that can’t be, can it? Why would I need to be _here_?”

“I think it’s pretty obvious, Renjun,” Jeno says, and there’s suddenly a softness in his eyes that wasn’t there before, and Renjun doesn’t like it. “You’ve read our story, you know what happens to us. I guess you’re here to ensure there’s a happy ending.”

Turning around, Renjun shakes his head. He runs his hands through his hair, tugging on the strands with so much force it’s almost painful.

“That can’t be it, Jeno. I tried for years to come up with a good ending but no matter what choice I made, even if at first it looked like it would lead to something good, it always ended up in disaster. ”

“It’s your best shot, Renjun. It’s either that or trying to come up with a spell that will end this and neither you nor I are wizards, and we don’t know if the other Renjun will be able to undo it, or even if he would want to,” Jeno’s words drip with resentment towards the other Renjun. “Besides, it can’t have been that bad, can it?”

Letting out a shaky breath, Renjun smiles, a bitter smile that tastes bad in his mouth as he remembers all the possible endings for the story. No matter how hard he tried, one way or another, the prince and princess would die, and so would Renjun, leaving Jeno forever chained to that cave, and the kingdom at war. 

He turns around to face Jeno once again, and the latter winces as he takes in Renjun’s grim smile.

“That bad?” Jeno whispers.

“That bad,” Renjun nods in reply. Rubbing his eyes, he tries to think of a way out. “I guess if we want this to have a good ending, I need to avoid doing what this Renjun would be doing, right from the start, so the first thing would be to avoid getting the prince to sign that contract,” he continues, more thinking to himself than speaking to Jeno but as he sees Jeno’s face, he stops. “Please don’t tell me the prince has already signed it.”

“He hasn’t but… He already came by, and the other Renjun gave him the contract.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me,” Renjun replies, his tone almost pleading.

“I wish I were but he’s taken it with him. He is supposed to come back today with an answer and the contract is magically binding so, if he has agreed to your terms, then you’ve got to help him.”

“ _Renjun’s_ terms,” he corrects Jeno. “If he has agreed to the other Renjun’s terms, not mine,” he continues, when Jeno frowns in confusion. “I am not the other Renjun and we have to remember that. Anyway, if this is true, then I have to go with the prince, and I will need your help to do that.”

“You know how this goes,” Jeno frowns.

“I do but I only know all bad endings. That might mean that there’s either no good ending, which I hope isn’t true, or there are only a few good endings so I will need all the help I can get. Plus Renjun never took you with him, so it’s something we should probably change.” Jeno still looks unsure, and Renjun presses on. “Jeno, I’m supposed to be a powerful wizard but I don’t even know this place other than by stories. I need help and someone I can trust, please.”

“If you say so…,” Jeno says, reluctance still written all over his face. “But you’d need to give me direct permission to come with you, or the spell won’t allow me to leave the cave.”

Hesitantly nodding his head, Renjun bites his bottom lip.

“Do you think this will work? Will the spell allow me to do it?”

Jeno’s face is grim as he replies.

“I guess there’s only one way to know,” he must read Renjun’s next question on his face, as he rushes to add. “You only have to say you allow me to leave this place, and that should do it.”

“That’s it?” Renjun repeats, and Jeno gives him a short nod. Renjun takes in a deep breath. “Jeno, I allow you to abandon this cave and accompany me on my quest to help the prince.”

The words feel strange as he speaks, and Renjun cringes as soon as he lets them out, feeling like a kid who’s playing pretend, but as he finishes his sentence he swears the last word echoes a bit in the cave, and there’s something different between them, something that wasn’t there before. Jeno frowns slightly.

“You’ve only allowed me to accompany you,” he says.

“You promised you’d help, but I don’t know how much your word is worth,” Renjun replies. It makes Jeno’s expression darken, and Renjun feels bad about it, but he knows he has to stay strong. “I will set you free, I promise, but I think you can understand my reluctance when trusting a stranger.”

“Of course,” Jeno agrees, but his lips are set in a thin line and his voice is monotonous. “Hendery should arrive any time now, I suggest you get into character,” he replies, as he turns around to leave.

“Hendery?” Renjun shouts at his back just before Jeno turns the corner and disappears.

“The prince, that’s his name” Jeno shouts back and then he’s gone, leaving Renjun alone.

Running his hands through his hair, Renjun turns around, inspecting the cave. There’s not much in it, other than the bed in the corner. It’s not really big, but Renjun guesses there must be some other “rooms” other than the one he’s in, as it looks like he’s standing in the other’s Renjun bedroom, and he supposed there must be more to the cave than just that.

Despite it being a cave, the air smells fresh, and it seems tidy and somewhat clean. To the left, there are clothes and, underneath them, what seems like a crate filled with candles and books. Renjun walks towards it and kneels beside it, taking out its content to inspect it.

Putting the candled aside, he focuses on the books. The ones on top are spell books, written in a language Renjun isn’t sure he recognizes. The margins, however, are covered in a handwriting he can read, one that is familiar as well as strange, both at the same time. He flips through the books’ pages before setting them aside, some of the spell making him feel nauseous. 

Finally, at the bottom of the crate, Renjun finds notebooks. They are old and worn out, but it looks like they’ve been treated carefully. Opening the first one, Renjun finds drawings. The first pages are completely covered with landscapes, basic drawings that slowly improve as he goes through the notebook. It looks like the other Renjun taught himself how to draw, improving by sheer repetition.

Frowning, Renjun sets aside the notebook and grabs another one. There, the pattern repeats itself, rough drawings filling the beginning as they slowly start improving, the only difference between the notebooks being the second one is filled with people, in different postures and situations, but not once looking straight at the viewer. 

However, as much as the drawings improve the closer Renjun gets to the end of the notebook, there’s still something off about the people portrayed in them. There’s always something slightly wrong about the faces the other Renjun has drawn, even the one belonging to whom Renjun assumes is Jeno.

Before he can conclude anything about it, Jeno appears once again, sounding slightly breathless, like he had run towards Renjun.

“The prince is here,” he announces, and Renjun jumps.

He rushes after Jeno, barely paying attention to his surroundings, and almost crashes against the other boy’s back when he unexpectedly stops.

“What is it?” He asks.

“It’s your turn now,” Jeno replies, and Renjun’s eyes widen in fear. “Don’t worry, you’ll do great,” Jeno reassures him. “You just have to take back the contract and see if he has signed it or not, and then decide what you’re going to do. Everyone knows the mighty Renjun works alone so he can’t see me here,” he continues. Renjun’s expression must still be terrified, for Jeno’s eyes soften and he seems to take pity on him, “You’ll be fine, Renjun. If what you say is true, and you already know what happens, then I’m sure you’ll be able to find a way out. If you are some other universe’s Renjun, then I know you will. And Hendery is still coming up the hill, you have some time to come up with something,” Jeno says, before turning around and leaving him alone.

With Jeno gone, the immensity of what has happened, what is happening, starts to down on Renjun. Stuck in a world that’s not his, with no way out but winning at a game he doesn’t know the rules of, Renjun fears he’ll drown. But then he takes a step forward, away from the cave, and the sun hits his face, the wind ruffles his hair, and he sees it: a small figure, barely a speck of dust, painstakingly making its way up the hill. 

The prince.

And Renjun remembers the story, and the multiple variations of the story’s ending, each of them with the prince dead. Renjun had always felt bad for the prince. A boy who had unexpectedly ascended to the throne of a kingdom on the verge of collapsing, a kingdom that appeared beautiful and peaceful, but whose image was nothing but a mirage, one that cloaked a weak kingdom struggling to maintain its independence.

The prince had come looking for a way out, a solution to his kingdom’s problem, and the other Renjun had given it to him in exchange for the prince’s word. And the prince had promised everything, anything as long as he gave him a way out.

In the end, he had always paid with his life.

It was why Renjun guesses it makes sense for him to have to solve the problem in order to return home. If he manages to keep the prince alive until the end, then maybe, the other Renjun would be of no use to the story, his plan thwarted, and he’ll be able to return. 

It is a long shot, but it is his only shot.

Which was why he can’t allow himself the luxury of failing before he has even started.

A quick glance at the prince reveals he is already halfway up the hill, and he’ll soon reach the summit. Breathing in deeply, Renjun wipes away the tears he hadn’t know he was shedding and tried to compose himself.

By the time the prince reaches the top of the hill, Renjun is ready, or, at least, as ready as one could be in such situations.

“Wizard,” the prince calls out.

Trying to keep a blank face, Renjun turns around to look at the prince, _at Hendery_ , Renjun corrects himself.

The prince is already walking towards him, confident strolls that bring him closer to Renjun. He is tall, taller than Renjun is, at least, with dark hair that frames a handsome face. He is dressed in fine clothing, a sword hanging from his belt, and his lips are set in a thin line, determination shining in his dark eyes. 

He stops a couple of meters from Renjun, casually resting one of his hands on the hilt of his sword, just shy of touching the piece of paper he is carrying in his pocket.

The silence between them stretches, and Renjun would swear he can see he restlessness growing in Hendery, his eyes clouding with every second that passes. He stays as still as a statue, tense as a bowstring, like he’s waiting for something to happen and he’s getting ready to run.

“Prince,” Renjun finally replies, when it becomes clear the other won’t say a word. “Did you come to a decision?”

Instead of replying, Hendery reaches for the paper inside his pocket and hands it over to Renjun. He can’t be sure, but Renjun would swear he see the prince’s hand trembling almost imperceptibly. When Renjun accepts it, Hendery lets of it immediately, like he doesn’t like the idea of even holding the same thing as Renjun for a second longer than necessary. 

Renjun can’t say he blames him.

Sighing inwardly, Renjun unfolds the paper, turning around to inspect it, even if the real reason for him turning around is him not being sure if he can maintain a neutral expression. 

His eyes jump to the end of the page, where he finds two signatures. The sharp lines of Hendery’s, black over pristine white, attract his eyes right from the start. Renjun closes his eyes, trying to keep his disappointment, and desperation, from showing in his face. He gulps, trying to get rid of the lump in his throat.

“You said you’d help me,” the prince says at his back. His voice is unsure and tentative, like he’s surprised by Renjun’s reaction, or rather lack of.

“I did,” he replies, and he silently marvels at how steady his voice sounds.

“You said I only had to sign that and agree to your terms, and you’d help me,” Hendery insists.

Slowly, Renjun fold the contract once again and pockets it. Now that it is signed, there’s little he can do to stop Hendery from starting his journey, so there’s only one other thing he can do.

Renjun turns around.

“I did,” he says, his voice sounding sterner than it did before. “You asked me for a way to save your country, didn’t you?” Hendery nods, reluctance and determination shining in his eyes, his inner conflict written all over his face. “There is a way,” Renjun says, as he witnesses duty and loyalty to his kingdom winning over Hendery’s reluctance.

“What is it?”

Renjun closes his eyes briefly and takes a shallow breath.

“There’s a tower, not far from here,” he starts and Hendery nods, coming closer. “Inside it, there’s a princess, kept there for her own safety. They say she’s cursed, and so she was kept in the tower for protection,” Hendery frowns and seems like he wants to say something, but Renjun’s faster. “She’s the heir to a neighbouring kingdom. If you manage to free her from her tower and you marry her, your kingdoms will join each other, and so your people will be able to live, as your kingdom will be protected from enemies by the princess’ kingdom.”

“What do you mean, ‘if I can free her from her tower’? Can’t she leave?” Hendery asks, reluctance creeping into his voice once again.

“The princess is guarded by a dragon,” Renjun admits. “It is said only the mightiest of knights will be able to free the princess from her tower and marry her. That is the solution I offer you,” he continues, as he sees doubt shining in Hendery’s eyes. “It’s your only opportunity, unless you wish to go to war.”

Hendery presses his lips together, his grip on his sword tightening.

“I do not. Will this save my kingdom?” He asks, looking Renjun straight in the eye.

Renjun holds his gaze, and through his mind flashes the final pages of the book, where the last thing Hendery saw before dying was his kingdom, bathed in blood as it burnt to ashes. That was the worst ending as it was the only one in which not only did Hendery perish, but his kingdom was destroyed, and almost everyone died. 

Renjun is determined to not let that happen.

“I promise you it will,” he assures him. 

Hendery doesn’t say anything at first, instead inspecting Renjun’s face for any hint of deception, but he finally nods.

“Where is this tower, then?” He inquires, and Renjun lets out the air he was holding.

“Don’t worry about that, prince,” he replies. Hendery’s eyebrows shoot up to the sky, disappearing under his fringe. “I will go with you.”

“Excuse me?” 

“I said, I will go with you,” Renjun repeats, glaring at the prince when he looks like he’s about to refuse. “You want to make sure your kingdom is safe and you asked for my help so how about you use me as much as you possibly can? I am very interested in you succeeding, so I will be going with you, whether you like it or not,” he adds, his tone final. What he doesn’t say is that he knows what happened when the other Renjun didn’t accompany him on his journey, how Hendery’s trip was cut short as soon as he reached the castle, felled by the dragon.

Apparently surprised by Renjun’s outburst, Hendery looks at him, inspecting him like it’s the first time he’s seen him. Renjun withstands it, knowing what Hendery is seeing, what he’s thinking, but he doesn’t really care about it.

Finally, Hendery nods.

“If you really want to come, then you can. We leave in half an hour,” is all he says. Renjun nods. He just hopes he’ll be enough to solve everything.


	2. Chapter 2

The first stop in the journey is a small town, not too far away from Renjun’s cave. They haven’t been walking for too long, barely a day, but there wasn’t much food in Renjun’s cave (and, even if there was, it had completely slipped Renjun’s mind, busy trying to stuff some of the magic books into a makeshift backpack) and Hendery’s supplies are quickly depleting, so it is a needed stop.

Jeno does not look too fond of the idea, constantly trying to convince them to skip this town and try their luck in the next one but whenever Hendery asks why, Jeno refuses to answer. Without a clear and valid reason, Hendery refuses to listen to him, and it’s not long before the town is visible in the distance.

“You don’t have to come if you don’t want to,” Renjun tells Jeno, as he notices the weird looks he’s giving the town.

Renjun’s voice seems to surprise Jeno, who jumps when he hears Renjun speak. It makes Renjun frown, and Jeno notices, as he tries to reassure Renjun by smiling brightly, except it’s a sad, nervous smile, that does not even begin to soothe Renjun’s worries.

“And wait for you outside for who knows how long? No, thank you. I’ll go with you, everything will be fine, I’m sure,” he replies loudly. Something in the way he speaks makes Renjun think he’s trying to convince himself more than Renjun.

He wants to insist, and find out what Jeno is hiding, but Jeno is tense, nervously looking around but never tearing his eyes away from the town for long, so Renjun fears he’ll just close off if he continues to probe. Instead, he decides to change the topic.

“What do you think will happen if this goes wrong?” He asks with a low voice. Hendery, walking some distance before them, doesn’t seem to be listening, but it’s always better safe than sorry. “Or if we’re wrong and giving you a happy ending isn’t enough?”

“I guess we’ll have to go with plan b,” Jeno replies in the same tone. “Try to recreate the spell the other Renjun used and if that doesn’t work, then try to come up with a new one.”

“None of us are wizards, Jeno,” Renjun says, feeling panic rising in his chest.

“I know,” Jeno replies.

“What if none of this works? Will I have to stay here forever?”

“It seems like it, you’ll never go back home,” Jeno replies, his tone dark but Renjun senses something there, some hesitation that wasn’t there before, like there’s something in his mind he doesn’t want to share with Renjun.

“What is it, Jeno?” Renjun asks. Jeno looks at him, lips pressed into a thin line, and Renjun grabs his arm. “What are you thinking?”

“You won’t like it.”

“I don’t care,” Renjun lies through clenched teeth. Something in him tells him Jeno sees right through him, but he doesn’t care.

“If there’s anything I’ve learnt about magic these last few years is that it doesn’t like when things are… _Wrong_ ,” he starts, speaking very carefully. “The rules of magic are few, and flexible, you can do almost anything you can think of, but it doesn’t like it when something that shouldn’t be there _is_ there.”

“I don’t understand,” Renjun replies, his palms starting to sweat.

“ _You_ , Renjun, are wrong. You are not supposed to be here. Right now, you’re taking up the other’s Renjun place, occupying his place, but you shouldn’t be there, and you are trying to stir up trouble here. Even if you’re trying to help, you’re still not playing by the rules and magic won’t like that. Magic tends to put an end to those things,” Jeno says, his face grim. 

Renjun gulps.

“What do you think will happen?” He whispers with a shudder, suddenly feeling cold under the warm Sun.

“I think the longer you stay here, the less of you that will remain. You’ve taken up Renjun’s place when you shouldn’t have, and so, you will become him. The longer you stay here, the more your identity will dilute, and you’ll stop knowing where you end and the other Renjun starts. If you don’t get out of here soon enough, then you never will, because there won’t be anything of you to even leave, Renjun. I’m sorry,” he adds with a soft voice, his hand coming to cover Renjun’s.

It is then that Renjun realizes he’s digging his fingers onto Jeno’s arm, with so much force he doesn’t understand how Jeno hasn’t complained at all. Mumbling apologies, he slowly forces his fingers to unclench and releases Jeno.

Jeno doesn’t even complain, just looking at Renjun with sadness shining in his eyes. The conversation stills, leaving Renjun feeling chilled to the bone.

Before any of them can say something to break the silence that has fallen upon them, Hendery turns around.

“We’re almost there!” He shouts.

Looking up, Renjun realizes he’s correct. Beside him, Jeno stiffens, his jaw tense, but he doesn’t say a word.

It’s not a big town, at least not by Renjun’s standards, but it seems to be brimming with life, even from afar, and Hendery says he stopped there on his way to Renjun, and he’s sure they’ll find everything they’ll need to reach the princess.

Just when they’re about to reach the first houses, Hendery stops.

“We can’t waste too much time here so, once we get to the town, we need to get supplies and hopefully some kind of indication to reach the tower.”

“I know where the tower is,” Renjun replies, frowning. Hendery looks at him with a blank expression.

“No offence, wizard, but everyone has heard of you and your reputation. I don’t trust you and I don’t want to only rely on your guidance, so I will go ask around to see if anyone knows anything. And, anyway, we might need to find out if the princess is there and whether there are or not other towns nearby.”

“The princess is still there,” Renjun insists, annoyed, but Hendery glares at him and Renjun presses his lips shut, not at all willing to get into a discussion with the prince.

“You go get food and I’ll see if I can find a new cloak,” Hendery starts.

“What’s wrong with yours?” Renjun asks, puzzled. Hendery ignores him.

“Jeno, you… Where’s Jeno?” It is then that Renjun realizes Jeno is no longer standing beside him. They both turn around, trying to find the other, but to no avail. It looks like Jeno has disappeared into thin air, and Renjun shrugs, nonchalant, in response to Hendery’s questioning gaze. That seems to further anger him, his face slowly darkening, but he seems to refrain himself. “You know what, it doesn’t matter, I don’t care where he is as long as he doesn’t hold us back. You go get the food and we’ll meet each other in the town’s square whenever we’re done.”

That said, Hendery turns around on his heels and stalks towards the town, promptly leaving Renjun behind. With a sigh, and at a much more leisurable pace, Renjun follows. A part of him wonders where Jeno has gone, but he has an inkling he’ll find out soon enough.

Pushing those thoughts to the side, he focuses on the task at hand, and quickly goes around the town, purchasing what he thinks they might need, mainly essential supplies such as food. It doesn’t take him long, and when he finishes, he walks towards the town’s square with a heavier bag and an emptied pouch.

The town’s square is filled with people, and Renjun carefully avoids colliding into any of them as he makes a slow approach to the lonely fountain that takes up the centre of the area. He’s surrounded by small children, who appear to have just left their school, and are running around wildly. Some of them, whose clothes look more battered than those of the rest, seem to be bragging about something, cloaks flying around them as they twirl around.

“Be careful!” A voice says next to Renjun.

Turning around, he finds a kid on the floor, probably having fallen while playing, being helped back to his feet, presumably by one of his teachers. The kid, with big eyes and a toothy grin, barely pays attention to anything other than his friends playing around next to them and is up and running again in no time, like he didn’t even notice the fall.

“I’m sorry for all the commotion,” the teacher says with a friendly smile. It’s honest and open, his eyes disappearing into small crescent moons as he smiles, and Renjun finds himself smiling without even meaning to, his grin contagious.

“Don’t worry about it,” he replies with a small shake of his head.

Renjun finally reaches the fountain, narrowly avoiding stepping on any of the kids, and he leans on it, waiting for both Hendery and Jeno to appear at some point. The fountain is busy, people constantly coming and going, and snippets of their conversations reach Renjun’s ears.

“…Did you know Jaehyun is finally getting married?”

“It was time!”

“…Prices have gone up so much, I wonder…”

“No way! Why would the prince be here?” 

Renjun stiffens.

“I swear he is! Yugyeom told me, you know how much of a gossip he is!”

Discreetly moving around, Renjun takes a look at the two women standing next to him. They’re busy talking to each other, and they don’t realize Renjun is eavesdropping. 

“But why would he be here?”

“Why? To save the princess and get married, of course!”

“That makes no sense, Chungha! Why would he want to do that? Everyone knows he doesn’treally care about the kingdom, he doesn’t even want to be king, he’s already tried to give up the throne in his brother’s favour and besides…”

The two women walk away, still chatting excitedly, but Renjun is no longer able to hear them. He briefly debates going after them, before dismissing the idea for being too creepy. It’ll just be one more puzzle piece he can make little sense of on its own.

“Are you done?”

Renjun jumps, scared by the sudden question. Turning around, he faces Hendery, a hand pushed flat against his own chest, his heart beating loudly.

“You scared me, oh my God,” he replies, almost breathless.

“Are you done?” Hendery asks again, his voice flat and monotone.

“Yeah, I am,” Renjun says, suddenly wary. “Did anything happen?”

Hendery’s eyes linger for a moment on Renjun’s face, inspecting him, while his own face betrays nothing.

“Nothing happened. Let’s go find Jeno.”

Without waiting for a reply, Hendery turns around, leaving Renjun behind.

“I’m sorry you heard that,” Renjun mutters when he catches up to Hendery.

The prince side-eyes him and lets out a soft sigh.

“Don’t worry about it. It’s not the first time I’ve heard something like that,” he replies, something bitter and pained in his voice. “Let’s go this way,” he indicates, before Renjun has a chance to say anything else.

“Okay,” he says, taking the hint. They walk in silence for a couple of minutes, until something at the end of the street catches Renjun’s attention. “Hey, is that—”

“Jeno?” A voice calls from behind them and Renjun jumps, startled. “Jeno!”

Hendery suddenly pulls Renjun to the side and Renjun stumbles, narrowly avoiding being pushed over by a man who runs past him. Exchanging an alarmed look, Hendery and Renjun both rush after the man, only to find him standing just around the corner, completely alone.

Renjun questioningly looks at Hendery, who shakes his head. Ignoring Hendery’s reply, Renjun takes a step closer to the stranger and hesitantly puts his hand on the other’s shoulder.

“Is everything alright?” He asks softly.

His voice seems to surprise the other, who shakes his head and presses his hands to his face before turning around to look at Renjun. It’s with no small amount of surprise that Renjun realizes it’s the same teacher to whom he had spoken earlier. He smiles weakly at Renjun.

“Yes, of course, no need to worry. I— I just thought I had seen someone I used to know,” he replies, his voice shaking despite his best attempts to keep it steady. “It happens. Sometimes.”

Now that they’re standing face to face, closer than they were before, Renjun realizes the other is younger than he thought at first, maybe even younger than he is, despite being taller than Renjun. He’s pale and thin, his appearance almost sickly, dark bruises under his eyes and tired lines around his mouth, like he hasn’t slept in months. His eyes are dull, barely concealed pain shining in them.

“I’m sorry for before, I shouldn’t have run, forgive me,” he says, eyes unfocused. Renjun doesn’t think he’s even seeing him.

“Don’t wo—,” Renjun starts but, before he can even finish speaking, the man has left them, not even sparing them one last look.

“Ignore him,” Hendery says, and Renjun turns around to look at him.

The prince is staring at Renjun, carefully inspecting his face, like he can read Renjun’s worry, blatantly on display. He’s extended one hand towards Renjun but his fingers close into a fist halfway to Renjun and he lets it fall limply by his side.

“Don’t worry about that man,” Hendery repeats, his voice softer than before. He looks like he wants to say something else, but he stops himself before he does so. “Let’s just go find Jeno.”

Renjun nods, still feeling cold from the previous encounter, his mind refusing to leave it behind.

Still inspecting his face, Hendery nods too, more to himself than anything else, and sidesteps Renjun to go back the way they came through. However, before he can do so, there’s a rustling noise coming from behind two piles of garbage. 

Exchanging a look, both of them walk towards the source of the noise, Hendery carefully approaching first. He kneels down and pushes a box to the side.

“It’s a cat,” he says with relief and surprise colouring his words.

“A cat?” Renjun repeats, and comes closer to kneel beside Hendery. Just as he said, there’s a cat curled down behind empty boxes, not looking at them. Renjun sighs and extends his hand. “Jeno? Is that you?”

The cat, all white fur and dark eyes, turns its head to look at Renjun.

“Jeno?” Hendery’s voice betrays his confusion, but none of them pay him much attention.

“Come on, Jeno. Let’s get out of here,” Renjun says softly, extending both of his arms to coax Jeno into coming out of his hiding place.

It takes some time but, finally, Renjun manages to do so. Renjun gingerly picks Jeno up, the cat weighing more than he expected at first, but Renjun doesn’t complain, just cradling Jeno to his chest like he would with a baby.

None of them say anything else until they’ve long since left the town behind them, completely hidden by the trees. It’s only then that Jeno jumps from Renjun’s arms, going back to his human form, refusing to look at any of them.

“Sometimes Renjun could be really cruel,” is all he says in response to Renjun’s questioning eyes, the words a whisper that is lost among the woods.

He doesn’t say anything else, and Renjun is too scared to ask.

***

By the time they finally reach the tower, it’s late, and Renjun is tired. The tower was not that far away from Renjun’s cave, but it’s quite different to go from one place to another when you have to do it on foot and don’t have the luxuries of car or public transportation.

After two days of trekking across the mountains and forest, Renjun is tired, covered in filth and, more importantly, aching all over. Jeno got bored pretty easily and it wasn’t long before he had adopted his cat form permanently and decided to curl himself on top of Renjun’s backpack, falling asleep against his back as Renjun carried him form one place to another. Hendery, on the other hand, looks as perfect as he had the first day Renjun had seen him, like his royal blood prevented him from getting tainted by earthly matters.

It doesn’t even matter that he just narrowly avoided falling into a pit, only being saved by Renjun’s fast reaction, muttering words that are still strange to his mouth but that allowed him to save Hendery just in time. Despite the hidden traps and the amount of climbing they’ve had to do, Hendery looks like he’s about to on a runway. 

Perks of being a fairytale prince, Renjun muses.

“We’re about to reach the tower,” Hendery complains as Renjun all but lets himself fall onto the ground. 

The sudden movement jerks Jeno awake and he jumps off Renjun’s back, giving him the stink eye as he does so. Renjun feels inclined to flip him off, exhausted after having to drag not only his body, but Jeno’s added weight for too many days straight, but he is too tired to do even that.

“And we will. Tomorrow. There’s no point in going there in the middle of the night when you have to face off a damn dragon. For all you know you might slip on some rocks and break your neck, just because you can’t see anything and are too tired to react, so let’s just stay here and we’ll go there tomorrow,” Renjun replies, blinking away the sleepiness as he did so.

“You could use magic,” Hendery complains.

“Or, we could rest and go there with our full strength, instead of relying on a half-dead wizard who can barely stand. A revolutionary idea, I know, but maybe you should try it sometime. Not all of us are almighty royals, prince,” he says.

What he doesn’t say is that all the magic he’s used so far are basic spells, the only ones he’s somewhat managed to master with Jeno’s help, the magic still dodging him, like he knows he’s an impostor. Renjun fears the day it comes as easy to him as breathing.

Pursing his lips, Hendery seems like he was about to say something, unconvinced by Renjun’s reasoning or maybe just done with his snarkiness, but instead he sighs and shakes his head.

“We’ll leave for the tower with the first lights,” Hendery says, using what Renjun is beginning to identify as his ‘commanding voice’, snobby and bossy. He guesses it comes with being both a prince and the heir, used to ordering and being obeyed, but Renjun could honestly not care any less about Hendery’s status. 

Instead, he just makes a vague gesture of assent as he tries to move around to take off his backpack, not even bothering to reply.

“I’m being serious!” Hendery insists, apparently annoyed by Renjun’s lack of reply.

“Don’t worry about it princeling, if there’s anyone here even more interested than you in this succeeding, it’s me. I won’t ruin your chances,” Renjun replies, tiredly speaking as he finally gets the backpack off. He places it on the ground to use it as a pillow, and barely even registers Jeno curling up against his side, a small ball of fur pressed against his ribs. “Wake me up when the Sun rises and we’ll go get your princess,” he continues, words slurred together as sleep washes over him.

He sleeps like a log the whole night, a blank sleep with no dreams or nightmares, and by the time he’s shaken awake, he feels like he just closed his eyes.

“Renjun, wake up,” a gruff voice coming from above him says, as a pair of hands continues to shake him. Renjun blinks, trying to get rid of the rests of sleep still clinging to him, and finds Jeno staring at him. “We have to leave,” he says. “If I leave you alone will you fall asleep again?”

Renjun shakes his head and Jeno gets up, stretching his body as he does so, before leaving him. Groaning, Renjun sits up, a blanket he doesn’t recall grabbing falling from his shoulders and pooling around his waist. Frowning, Renjun rubs his eyes, still not used to the sudden brightness, the sky slowly turning light blue.

Even if going back to sleep sounds tempting, Renjun rises, ignoring the flashes of pain that surge all over his body, and picks up the blanket. As he does so, he realizes it’s not actually a blanket, but a cloak, worn and soft from use, and one Renjun doesn’t remember packing. 

Confused, Renjun looks around to ask Jeno about it, but Jeno is gone already, walking up towards Hendery is standing with his back turned to them and suddenly Renjun doesn’t really want the answer to his question. Instead, he silently folds it and packs it, before walking up to Jeno and Hendery, stopping as he reaches the latter’s side.

Glancing at him from the corner of his eye, Hendery asks, “are we ready to go, then?”

Renjun nods and Jeno turns back into a cat, his only sign that he is indeed ready. Sighing, Renjun kneels down as Jeno paws at his leg, and waits patiently until the boy-turned-familiar is comfortably sat on top of his backpack before giving Hendery a thumbs up.

Like Hendery had said the night prior, they were about to reach the tower, and it doesn’t take them more than an hour to stop in front of the tower’s outer doors.

Calling it a ‘tower’, however, would not be staying true to reality. There is a tower, and it is high, so high it seems to reach the stars (Hendery and Jeno’s words, Renjun had seen higher buildings back home but his comment had been met with disbelief as he had said it) but there is a building attached to it too, one that can only be described as a castle, and a huge one at that (Renjun’s words, while Hendery had seemed personally affronted by them, and had only mumbled to himself his own castle was way better than that toy one they were standing in front of).

So, there is a tower, however tall it is, and there is a castle, however big it is, but what they can’t find, no matter how much they look for it, is the dragon.

“There’s no dragon,” Renjun says and Hendery turns to him, apparently surprised by the mistrust in Renjun’s voice. 

“Isn’t that a good thing?” He replies, the confusion obvious in his voice.

Renjun looks briefly at Hendery before going back to inspecting the castle and its surroundings.

“There’s supposed to be a dragon. There has to be.”

Hendery shrugs, not at all worried at the lack of dragon.

“Maybe it died, or it got bored of being here. Who cares anyway, it makes our task easier. Now we just need to figure out how to get inside the castle, without having to worry about not being eaten by a giant lizard,” he says with a bright smile, before walking along the castle, trying to find a way in.

Renjun looks at Jeno, still frowning, but Jeno merely shrugs, as unbothered by the lack of dragon as Hendery is. Still, Renjun is not convinced. He remembers the story perfectly, and so far, everything they’ve encountered is exactly like it played out in it, just more fleshed out. He knows there’s supposed to be a dragon, one that is vicious and borderline cruel, and that refused to let go of the princess. 

Sometimes, the prince managed to put it down. Sometimes, it was the dragon who ended the prince. There was never a scenario in which the dragon wasn’t there.

Still, Hendery and Jeno don’t seem to care about it and Renjun doubts they’ll listen to him if he tries to convince them to wait a little longer until he can figure out what’s going on so he just resigns himself. He’ll have to be extra cautious just for that.

Hurrying to follow Jeno, he finds Hendery climbing up the ivy towards an open window located on the first floor. By the time he reaches said window, Hendery’s face is red with exertion but he’s smiling brightly at them.

“Stay there! I’ll go open the door for you!” He shouts.

“Be careful!” Renjun shouts back but Hendery has already disappeared inside the room. 

“Are you really not worried at the lack of dragon?” Renjun asks Jeno as they make their way back.

“Why would I be?”

“What if it’s a trap? What if it’s all a ruse to get Hendery inside and kill him? What if he’s already dead?” Once he starts talking he can’t stop, question after question spilling from his lips before he can stop them.

“You think too much,” Jeno says.

“Someone has to,” Renjun replies with a glare.

Jeno shrugs.

“He’ll be fine. I think you’re getting too attached to Hendery.”

“What are you talking about?” Renjun asks with a frown.

“You really don’t know? He’s not that bad under all that prince status and such. I think we might be growing on each other,” Renjun's frown deepens and Jeno rolls his eyes, sighing in annoyance. “Forget it, Renjun and just relax. The journey here has been bad enough, let’s enjoy what we have. Maybe they just exaggerated the tales to keep people from coming here,” Jeno replies with a shrug, picking up on a hole on his shirt. 

“Maybe,” Renjun replies, still utterly unconvinced, but before he can try and push the subject some more with Jeno, the door to the castle opens, and Hendery’s face pops out from inside the castle.

“Come in, hurry!”

Renjun and Jeno rush to obey his words, and Renjun gives a last look outside before closing the door behind him.

The inside of the castle is dark and cool, and it smells a bit dusty, though not as much as Renjun had expected it to be. The carpet that covers the floor muffles the sound of their footsteps, and the scraping of Hendery’s sword as he unsheathes it echoes in the hallways at first.

It seems like time has stopped inside the castle, and they’re all holding their breaths, waiting for what is to come, whatever that is.

Hendery walks ahead of the three of them, with Jeno and Renjun closely following behind. He has his sword raised, both hands around the handle, carefully inspecting every nook and cranny before advancing. Renjun, too, looks at both sides of the hallway as he walks and, for all the impassivity Jeno exudes, he too, feels tense under Renjun’s hands, as he grabs his arm to prevent him from going too far and leaving him alone.

It is Jeno the one who reacts first.

One moment, he’s walking beside Renjun. The other, he’s duck down, dragging Renjun with him to the floor.

The sudden movement destabilizes Renjun, who barely has enough time to release his arm from Jeno’s grip and put his hands in front of himself to avoid falling onto the floor, face first. There’s the sound of something swishing just above Renjun and then a crash to his left, followed by Hendery yelling something as he turns around.

Pushing himself off the floor, Renjun spins to look at Jeno and Hendery, and finds Jeno holding something, or rather someone, against the wall. The boy is baring his teeth, hissing loudly with narrowed eyes and his right arm extended in front of him, his fingers curled around someone’s neck. At his feet lays a heavy candelabrum.

“Jeno, let go!” Hendery screams at him as he rushes to sheathe his sword.

Jeno throws him a cold look, and only obeys when Renjun appears at his side. As he releases his prey, this falls, spluttering and coughing, dark hair hiding her face. It is with no little amount of surprise that Renjun realizes it is a girl, not much older than they are. Her clothes, like Hendery’s, are clean and more well-suited than the one’s Renjun is wearing, but they lack the finery of the prince’s, the dress of good quality but cheaper.

When she raises her head to look at them, her neck is red, with the imprint of Jeno’s fingers slowly appearing on it, and Renjun feels slightly bad for her, until he remembers the candelabrum she had tried to hit them with, and he takes a look at the angry red scratches that now mar Jeno’s wrist and arm.

Her hair falls in soft waves, framing her face, where her cold, angry eyes, and triangular mouth curled in a snarl stand out the most.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” She all but growls at them, her hand disappearing in the foldings of her skirt.

Renjun and Jeno exchange a look, with the later looking almost murderous as he takes in the girl at their feet. Hendery, on the other hand, crouches to stand at her level.

“My name is Hendery, the heir to this kingdom. My companions and I are here searching for the princess trapped here. Is that you?” He asks, his voice softer than Renjun has ever heard it before.

The girl’s eyes seem to widen at that, and she looks at the three of them in quick succession. The fury disappears from her face, replaced by surprise and shock, like she wasn’t expecting anyone to come. Then, those disappear too, until only a pleasant smile is left. 

She rises to her feet, Hendery copying her movements, and she tilts her head slightly.

“I’m afraid that is not me, your Highness. The princess is in her room. Follow me,” she instructs, that same smile never leaving her face.

Hendery follows her and, after a moment’s hesitation, Jeno does too. Renjun stays behind at first, having a bad feeling regarding the girl, unable to shake off the impression there was something more sinister, something calculating, lurking in her eyes, hidden by her smile.

Unwilling to be left behind, however, Renjun rushes to follow them, catching up with them at the beginning of the narrow stairs that lead up the tower.

“So, if you aren’t the princess, who are you exactly?” Jeno is asking just as Renjun falls into step behind him.

The girl lets out a slight laugh, one that is pleasant to the ear but that unsettles Renjun for some reason.

“Of course I’m not the princess, silly! I’m just her handmaiden, Hyejoo, here to tend to all her needs while we waited for some nice, handsome, brave prince to free her from this tower!” She replies, looking back over her shoulder to throw Hendery a bright smile.

“Free her from what?” Renjun asks then. Hyejoo’s eyes move to him, and her smile dims a little.

“Excuse me?”

“Free her from what, exactly?” He repeats. “There was supposed to be a dragon guarding this castle, but we couldn’t find any trace of it,” he explains, and Hendery nods in agreement. “If there’s no dragon, why couldn’t you leave?”

“Oh, the dragon. It’s true, yes. You see, the dragon left some time ago. I guess it grew bored of being here, we haven’t had those many visitors, you know,” Hyejoo replies as they continue to go up the staircase, her words echoing more and more the higher they climb. “But even if he left, we couldn’t leave.”

“Why not?” Jeno inquires.

“Oh, don’t you know?” Hyejoo turns around, her surprised tone echoing in the staircase. “The princess was put under a sleeping spell, all those years ago. Not much, really but only a true love kiss can wake her up and, as you can imagine, it was much safer to stay here than to leave for a poor, defenceless, sleeping princess like her.”

Renjun frowns at that, but before he can mull over Hyejoo’s words, Hendery’s hand is on his forearm, gripping him tightly.

“A true love kiss?” He asks, sounding slightly anxious. “You didn’t say anything about that,” he says, eyes filling with panic.

Caught by surprise, Renjun opens his mouth to reply and then closes it again, searching his brain for a suitable reply.

“I mean, isn’t that how it always goes? A true love kiss to break free of whatever curse has been placed upon the princess,” Renjun blurts out the first explanation that comes to mind, and inwardly cringes as soon as he’s said it aloud, unable to believe the bullshit he just spat out.

Somehow, however, that seems to marginally calm Hendery down, who relaxes the death grip he had on Renjun’s arm.

“Yeah, I guess that makes sense,” he replies, and Renjun has to make a gigantic effort to not let his confusion and shock be shown on his face.

As they spoke, Hyejoo and Jeno had continued to climb up the staircase, and so it’s only Renjun and Hendery still standing on the steps, alone. Renjun looks up, taking in Hendery’s face, the light traces of panic still there that he hasn’t managed to erase yet. Before he can stop himself, Renjun reaches for Hendery’s hand, covering it with his own, and squeezes slightly.

“It will be fine,” he assures him. Hendery looks puzzled, frozen under Renjun’s touch. Seeing his expression, Renjun drops his hand like it’s burning him. “I promise you, I won’t let you fail.”

Hendery’s eyes scan Renjun’s face for a silent minutes, before nodding to himself. He curves his lips into the shadow of a smile, one that’s probably meant to be reassuring but doesn’t come off like that in the slightest.

Without a word, Hendery turns away and climbs the last steps. Renjun follows him closely.

When they reach the end of the staircase, Jeno and Hyejoo are already waiting for them. The doors behind them are closed as they hover awkwardly in front of them. They aren’t talking, Jeno looking everywhere but where Hyejoo is standing, while Hyejoo is nervously shifting her weight from one leg to another.

Her stance changes when she sees them arrive, standing straighter than she was before. Sketching a smile, she looks at Hendery.

“Ready, your Highness?” She asks.

Hendery takes a step forward, inhaling deeply as he does.

“As ready as I’ll ever be,” he replies.

It’s not the best of answers, and a small frown clouds Hyejoo’s face for a brief second before disappearing completely, her smile returning to her lips.

“Follow me,” she says as she turns around.

Pushing both doors open, she walks inside. Jeno, Hendery and Renjun follow her, with Hendery ahead of the other two. 

The room is cool and half in shadows, with the thick curtains closed and the only light illuminating the room coming through the open door and the thin beam of light seeping through a small opening in the curtains. The air inside smells of lilacs and cherries, something light and delicate that covers every centimeter of the room.

Hyejoo walks up to the bed, located on the far end of the room, and stands beside it, looking down at the girl sleeping soundly in it. She reaches forward, pushing a dark strand of hair away of her face, a soft look in her eyes.

“This is my princess,” she says, turning her eyes to them and freezing them on the spot. “Her name is Yerim, and she has been asleep for a very long time now, waiting for some who’d free her from this curse,” she continues. Hyejoo stares at Hendery, her face half in shadows, giving her a preternatural look. “You can come closer to her, prince. Let’s see if you are the one who can finally wake her up.”

Hendery looks back, at Jeno and Renjun, nervousness appearing on his face once again. Renjun nods at him and gives him a thumbs up to encourage him, which makes Hendery frown slightly, apparently confused, but it also seems to calm him down somewhat, as he nods to himself and walks up to the bed.

Hyejoo moves aside after one last, pensive look, leaving her spot to Hendery. Hendery opens and closes his fists repeatedly before looking down at the princess.

“Are you sure this is fine?” He asks, turning to Hyejoo.

“It is, don’t worry,” she replies, giving him an encouraging smile.

Hendery closes his eyes for a moment. Placing his hands on the edge of the bed, Hendery leans forward. After a moment’s hesitance, he closes the remaining distance between them, and brushes his lips against the princess’.

It is a brief touch, lasting for less than a second, before Hendery moves back. 

They all hold their breaths, waiting to see what comes next. There’s not a thing to be heard, not even the sound of the wind beyond the windows.

Nothing happens.

Disappointed, Hendery’s shoulders fall down and he takes a step back, rubbing his face with a sigh. Hyejoo stands beside the bed once again, softly caressing the princess’ face.

“What now?” Hendery asks Renjun.

Renjun opens his mouth to reply but just as he’s about to do so, there’s movement behind Hendery. Hyejoo gasps, and Hendery turns around just in time to see the princess’ eyelashes flutter.

She takes in a shaky breath, and opens her eyes.

At first, only her eyes move, nervously shifting around, like she’s not sure where she is. Then, she focuses on the one beside her and smiles faintly.

“Hyejoo,” she breathes out, reaching for Hyejoo’s hand and giving it a light squeeze. Hyejoo smiles back, before tilting her head subtly to the side, pointing at where Hendery is standing. The princess follows her movement, her eyes widening when she sees him there. “Who are you?” She asks with a shy voice.

“I’m Hendery,” he replies, coming closer to the bed.

“He woke you up,” Hyejoo supplies, her voice much softer than she was speaking to them.

The princess opens her mouth in a perfect circle, a small _oh_ escaping her lips.

“So you’re the one who broke my curse,” she says, and Hendery nods. “Thank you,” she smiles, her face lighting up like the Sun. “I am Yerim,” she adds, like an afterthought.

“Nice to meet you, Yerim,” Hendery replies, a bright grin splitting his face in two.

“Same thing. I’ve been waiting for you for a long time, Hendery.”

Renjun, on the side, watches the exchange, the spark shining in Yerim and Hendery’s eyes, and he prays he hasn’t made a mistake.


	3. Chapter 3

The trek down the hill was faster than the climb, especially knowing where the traps where located, which made them able to avoid them, but by the time they'd reached the foot of the hill, Renjun's body groaned in pain when he so much as breathed. Jeno and Hendery didn’t seem to have as many troubles as he did, and Hyejoo helped Yerim walk whenever they reached a particularly tricky part.

Walking into the town, however, had been a big relief, and Renjun had wasted no time before he found somewhere to sit and rest his aching feet. Hendery hadn’t wanted to walk into town on their way to the castle, but not that they had the princess with them, he had suggested they tried to find some horses before they headed back to Hendery’s palace.

Hyejoo hadn’t seemed too thrilled by the idea, but a look from Yerim was enough to make her stop complaining, albeit begrudgingly. It didn’t stop Hyejoo from covering her and Yerim’s face with their hoods, pulled on low enough to make sure no one would be able to see their faces.

Renjun guesses they might paint a strange picture, two girls with their faces hidden, two boys that won’t look at each other, and a cat that glares at anyone who dares approach. Too many new faces in a small town, and everyone who walks past them stares, like they’re puzzled by their presence there.

Renjun isn’t too bothered by it, but Hendery appears progressively more frustrated as any person he tries to approach manages to weasel just out of his reach.

“Why won’t anyone talk to me?” He groans aloud. It is obvious he’s talking to himself more than to anyone else, but Renjun’s words slip between his lips before he can stop himself.

“You’re probably scaring them away,” he says, regretting his words as soon as they leave his lips.

Hendery turns around, already frowning, and he approaches Renjun.

“What are you talking about?”

Sighing tiredly, Renjun stands up to look at Hendery in the eye, uncomfortable with the idea of the prince towering over him as he sits.

“Your clothes are too expensive for this place, you have a sword hanging from your belt and you look two-seconds away from committing murder and getting away with it, so I guess people don’t want to risk it.”

Upon hearing Renjun’s words, Hendery’s expression darkens, just like Renjun was anticipating, and he braces himself for Hendery’s reply. However, when Hendery speaks, it’s surprisingly more civil than Renjun was expecting.

“Then what do you suggest you do?” Hendery’s expression is pained, like he doesn’t want to ask for Renjun’s advice, but he still does.

“Maybe try smiling? And not just your default customer service smile, but a real smile,” he replies.

“Cus— Customer service smile?” Hendery asks, perplexed, and Renjun inwardly winces. Before he can say anything, however, there’s a loud crash to their right.

Hendery and he turn around at the same time, to find an old woman who’s fallen down next to Hyejoo. She seems to have been carrying apples, that have rolled all around them with the fall, and Hyejoo rushes to help her stand up and pick them up.

The old woman smiles awkwardly, and tries to stop Hyejoo from helping her, but she freezes halfway through her sentence. She seems shocked by what she says, but quickly recovers, smiling warmly, though still a little awkward, at Hyejoo when she hands her the remaining apples.

“Thank you, young lady,” she says.

Hyejoo nods, and turns her head slightly to the side, like she’s looking at Renjun and Hendery over her shoulder. As the other woman starts to walk away, Hyejoo extends her hand, carefully placing it on the woman’s arm.

“My companions and I are looking for some horses to continue our journey. Could you please tell us where we could find them, if there’s such a place here?”

“Yes, of course,” the old woman replies with a smile. “Just go to the market, you’ll be able to find some right next to it,” Hyejoo nods, not saying anything. The woman seems confused for a moment, before widening her eyes and smiling, embarrassed. “Silly me, I didn’t tell you where the market is, did I? Forgive me, my mind is not what it once was. Just go that way and you’ll find it, you can’t miss it,” she says, turning around to point at a street.

“Thank you so much,” Hyejoo replies, tilting her head in gratitude. “Let’s go,” she says to the rest of them, as she extends a hand to help Yerim stand up.

The old woman tracks her movement with her eyes and she scans all their faces, the smile never leaving her lips. Renjun mumbles a small ‘thank you’ as he walks past her, and he would swear he feels her eyes on them as they leave her behind.

It doesn’t take them long to get to the market the old woman was talking about, with a determined Hyejoo leading the way and, once they get there, the smell and noise of the horses is enough to direct them to the right place.

“Maybe it’d be best if I do the talking,” Hyejoo says, her voice low. Hendery seems surprised by that, his hand already extended to open the door to the establishment.

“Eh, if you say so,” he says, his words a bit uncertain, but what Renjun told him before must have gotten to him, as he takes a step back and lets Hyejoo walk in first.

Hyejoo doesn’t bother with a reply, Yerim following close behind after giving Hendery an empathetic smile.

The establishment is not big, a room barely spacious enough to host the four on them and the man that handles it. There’s a couple of rickety chairs, one of which groans under Renjun’s weight. He doesn’t have much time to enjoy being sat down, however, as Hyejoo proves herself to be an efficient buyer, who manages to procure them three horses for what Hendery seems to deem a very good price.

The three horses wait for them outside, black, white and light brown, and Yerim, Hyejoo and Hendery rush forward to coo over them. Even Jeno, who had been lazily perched on top of Renjun’s backpack decides to jump from it and approach them, curiously looking at them, while Renjun stays a little back.

“Don’t you like horses?” Yerim seems to sense his hesitation, and turns around to ask him, her fingers buried in the horse’s hair, innocent curiosity in her eyes.

“I’ve never been this close to any,” Renjun decides to finally admit. That seems to surprise them all.

“Never? How do you go from one place to another, then?” Hendery asks and Renjun shrugs, uncomfortable.

“I have my ways,” he replies, choosing to keep it vague.

Eventually, though, he approaches one of the horses, and tentatively pats its loin, feeling more relaxed the longer he stands beside it. The feeling of the horse’s fur under his fingers is different than he expected, rougher, in a way, but not unpleasant. The horse seems to enjoy Renjun’s petting too and, before he realizes, Renjun’s smiling brightly, reaching to feed it an apple.

“It’s not that bad, isn’t it?” Yerim asks to his left.

Renjun turns his head towards her for a moment, still smiling.

“No, it isn’t,” he replies.

“They’re big and that might scare you at first but they’re nothing to be scared of,” Yerim says, coming closer to gently brush her hand against the horse’s loin. “I love horses so much, I had missed them a lot.”

“Is it weird?” Renjun asks then. “To be out again?”

Yerim pauses to think about his question.

“It isn’t _that_ weird,” Yerim replies. “I’ve spent most of that time asleep in that tower so I didn’t really miss much, you know? It’s not like I knew I couldn’t go out, I was just asleep. What is weird is to know that I’ve spent all that time sleeping, locked in that tower for so long.”

“It doesn’t seem you’re having trouble adjusting to it, though,” Renjun replies, almost absentmindedly. Yerim turns to him, confused.

“What do you mean?”

“Oh, nothing much. I just thought, after all that time sleeping without moving or seeing the Sun, you’d have more trouble going back to normal, but you seem to be doing quite well.”

Yerim’s lips turn down for a moment, before focusing back on the horse.

“I guess you’re right. At least the spell didn’t ruin this too for me,” she replies with a humourless chuckle.

“Are you ready to go?” Hendery asks then, jogging up to them.

Yerim steps away from the horse to give him a bright smile.

“We’re ready, aren’t we, Hyejoo?”

Hyejoo nods in reply.

“And you, Renjun?” Hendery asks, looking directly at him.

“Ready when you are,” he answers in a small smile.

After that, it doesn’t take them long before they get on the horses. Yerim and Hyejoo share the black one, Hendery takes the brown one and Renjun is left with the white horse, supposedly the calmest one of the bunch, and they leave towards the castle.

***

Renjun jumps, surprised, when Jeno lets himself fall down beside him. The light from the flames illuminate half of Jeno’s face, and he gives Renjun a side-eyed glance as he stretches his long legs in front of him.

A mixture of annoyance and something that feels like sadness twirl in Renjun for some reason whenever he looks at Jeno, leaving Renjun confused, and somewhat uncomfortable. He pushes those feelings aside, decided to look at them closely later on.

“What are you doing?” Jeno asks, and Renjun looks down at his lap.

Right up until that moment, he had been idly tracing the outline of the other Renjun’s drawings with his fingers. He’s not even sure why he brought the notebooks along. They take up a precious space and a part of him is really creeped out by the drawings for some reason but, at the same time, he felt compelled to do so, like there’s something written in them for him to read, except he doesn’t know how to translate it. Either way, Renjun closes the notebook, tucking it away once again before replying to Jeno.

“I was thinking,” he says, slowly.

“About what?”

Renjun tilts his head to the side and Jeno follows the direction he’s pointing at, frowning in confusion. Hendery is busy staring at the fire, while Yerim has already fallen asleep, her arms folded beneath her head serving as a pillow. Beside her sits Hyejoo, who never wanders far from the princess.

“I feel like there’s something we’re not seeing,” Renjun admits. The words leave a bitter taste in his mouth.

“What?” Jeno asks, his frown deepening. “We saved the princess and now they can marry and live happily ever after. We’ve succeeded. You should be happier,” he insists, but Renjun shakes his head.

“That’s the problem, Jeno. It’s been way too easy. It was never that easy in the book.”

“Shouldn’t you be happy it wasn’t as hard, then?” Renjun shakes his head again, more firmly.

“I feel like there’s something I’m missing, it’s way too easy. We just went there, broke into the castle and saved the princess. There wasn’t even a fight. Hell, there wasn’t even a dragon, and there was always, _always_ , a dragon in the story.”

“I think you’re seeing ghosts at this point, Renjun,” Jeno replies.

“Maybe,” he says. “Or maybe not. I just don’t want to make a mistake.”

Jeno stares at him for a second longer, before turning his head to look at Hendery at Yerim.

“Why don’t you tell Hendery?”

Renjun huffs, dismissive.

“He’d never believe me. I’d have to explain way too many things that he just won’t believe and I don’t even have any proof she’s up to anything nefarious. She was always prim and proper in the story. I don’t have any evidence, it’s just… A gut feeling, I guess.”

“Why?” Jeno insisted.

Renjun sighed and rubbed his forehead, trying to find the appropriate words to express himself.

“Because so far, except for the dragon, everything has been like in the story, but with a little twist. I’ve found what I was looking for, but it wasn’t exactly what I was expecting. And then the dragon disappears and the princess is exactly as a fairytale princess is? I don’t know, I just don’t believe it,” he says, unable to keep the frustration from his voice.

“I’m not sure I understand what you’re saying, but I guess there’s only one thing you can do,” Jeno replies, and Renjun arches his eyebrows in response. “Wait and see. If you really think there’s something wrong, then you’ll have to keep an eye on them.”

“Yeah… I just hope I’m doing the correct thing,” Renjun says, watching the other out the corner of his eye. Beside him, Jeno nods, his face grave, and makes no movement to leave. He seems like he wants to say something, but he eventually decides not to, turning his head to the side, pointedly away from Renjun. Before he can get up, however, Renjun’s words keep him rooted to the floor, “I promise I’ll set you free.”

“When?” Jeno asks. His lips are set in a thin line, his eyes hard, like he doesn’t believe Renjun.

“When we get to the castle,” Renjun replies with a small sigh.

“You said you’d set me free if I helped you, and I did. You _have_ to set me free, Renjun,” Jeno insists, something like anger simmering in his voice.

“We aren’t done yet, Jeno,” Renjun replies, his tone harsher than intended, hands closing in around the books he carries. Jeno’s eyes widen, and he takes a step back, surprised. Renjun feels bad at that, but doesn’t take back his words. “Once we get to the castle and we make sure everything is fine and that I don’t need your help anymore, then I’ll set you free.”

Jeno stares at him from above, his face half in shadows. After a moment’s hesitation, Renjun looks up, staring at the other’s eyes.

“You better keep your word, Renjun,” he says, turning around after that. He takes a step forward and then, pauses, throwing Renjun a look over his shoulder. “I really hope you know what you’re doing,” he adds, before disappearing into the night.

Renjun clenches his teeth, frustrated with himself and Jeno. He looks at Hendery and Yerim, both fast asleep now, and jumps when he realizes Hyejoo’s eyes are set on him, holding an intensity he can feel even from the other side of the fire. 

He considers asking her, but then Hyejoo looks away and Renjun decides it’s not worth it, choosing to try and catch some sleep instead.

***

“We’re almost there,” Hendery announces one afternoon, breaking the silence that had settled around them. They all look at him, equally relieved and excited by the news. “There’s a town not much further ahead down the road. We have enough money to pay for an inn, so could stop there and have a good night’s rest in a proper bed,” he suggests.

At that point, they are all tired and sore, and the thought of sleeping in a bed instead of on the floor sounds like heaven to them all. Besides, it has been raining all day and, despite Renjun’s spell to keep them dry, they feel chilled to the bone, and it’ll probably be hard to find any decent spots to sleep on in the forest.

“Let’s go, then,” Hendery says after seeing their effusive response.

Fueled by the thought of a real bed and a proper bath, they move faster than they did before, and it isn’t long before they start seeing traces of a near settlement. With every step that they take, the tension leaves their bodies or most of them.

“Do you think it’ll be safe?” Hyejoo asks all of a sudden, her face betraying some of her apprehension.

“Yes, of course. Why wouldn’t it be?” Hendery replies, slightly confused.

“I’m not sure it’s safe for the princess to go into town. What if someone recognizes her?”

“No one knows she left the tower, though,” Renjun retorts, his confusion mirroring Hendery’s.

“That’s not true,” Hyejoo rebuts. “There are some rumours going around, that the princess woke up and left the tower. The closer we get to the castle, the more dangerous it’ll be.”

“Why?”

“Because of the wedding,” Yerim replies, silently.

“Wedding?” Renjun repeats, his eyes jumping from Hendery to Yerim.

“Yes, the wedding,” Hendery replies, his voice soft, almost muted.

“That’s the whole point of this, after all, isn’t it?” Yerim asks. “To get married, unite our kingdoms and so on. Find true love, be happy.”

“And why would that be a problem?” Renjun asks, trying to push everything else aside.

“It shouldn’t be a problem…,” Yerim starts, hesitant.

“Sometimes people get too attached to power,” Hyejoo cuts her, her voice stern. Her eyes are cold, silent fury shining in them. “Sometimes people don’t like change either.”

Hendery and Renjun exchange a look. There’s something in Hendery’s expression, in the curve of his lips, that Renjun can’t decipher, and he looks away, unable to hold Hendery’s eyes.

“You don’t have to worry about it, though,” Yerim states, resolute. Her eyes shine with determination, all traces of her previous hesitation gone. She’s back to being her usual self, shining as bright as the Sun, commanding all eyes to her. “It’ll all be fine. I’ve got Hyejoo, and Hendery too, and it’ll all be alright.”

“Of course it will,” Hendery replies, his tone as tender as his eyes when he looks at Yerim. The princess turns to look at him and gives him a bright grin in response.

Renjun’s fingers twitch around the reins, but he doesn’t say anything. 

“We don’t have to worry about going to town,” Yerim continues. Hyejoo opens her mouth to protest, clearly displeased by that, but Yerim silences her with a look and a brief squeeze of her waist. “It’ll all be fine, Hyejoo,” she repeats. “You don’t have to worry, trust me. Everything will go according to plan. When have I ever been wrong?”

Hyejoo looks sideways at her, her lips curved downwards. Her eyes shift from Yerim to Hendery and then to Renjun, and she seems to accept her defeat. Sighing softly, she shakes her head.

“Great!” Yerim exclaims, smiling wide. “Let’s get to town, then!” She continues and with that Hyejoo spurs their mount on, leaving Hendery and Renjun no option but to do so too.

It doesn’t take them too long to reach the village, and by then the rain is nothing more than a drizzle, but they still can’t contain their joy when they’re told there are spare rooms. The inn is small, but comfortable, and with how long they’ve spent on the road, it’s almost like Heaven for them. 

They decide that Hyejoo and Yerim (who are attracting various eyes towards them, because Hyejoo is stubborn to a fault and refused to let Yerim go around unless she covered her face with her hood), will share a room, while Hendery and Renjun will share the other. Jeno, still in his cat form, will probably do as he pleases.

The innkeeper had told them as he leads them to their rooms that they had come into town just in time to see the local festivities. Hyejoo and Hendery hadn’t seem too thrilled about it, but Yerim and Renjun had managed to coax them into accepting to go out, under the excuse that they deserved a little fun after the long journey.

That’s how they’ve found themselves out during the night, following the local townspeople to a long esplanade where they had somehow managed to lit three huge bonfires. They lit the esplanade in the absence of the moon and stars, and even if the sky is covered in huge black clouds, the people don’t seem at all bothered by the possibility of the rain ruining their fun.

Hyejoo and Yerim disappeared soon after they got there, going around exploring some of the stands that are set on the edges of the esplanade. Jeno disappeared too and it was only Hendery and Renjun sticking together, leaning against a wall, with a perfect view of the whole place, bottles that Hendery have gotten from who-knows-where dangling from their fingers.

They haven’t spoken much since they’ve gotten there, content busking in each other’s presence as they observe those around them, until Hendery breaks the silence that has settled around them.

“Let’s play a game,” he suggests. 

Renjun arches his brows, surprised and intrigued, and smirks, somewhat amused.

“A game? What kind of game?”

“Let’s trade questions,” Hendery says, face completely serious. Renjun’s smile increases against his will, his amusement growing, and takes a sip of his bottle. “One question each, we’re obligated to reply.”

“What are the rules?” Renjun asks, causing Hendery to blink, as if he didn’t expect Renjun to agree. Snickering, Renjun repeats his question.

“One question at a time, we can ask about anything we want.”

Renjun carefully ponders the question, a part of him wanting to take back his words and tell Hendery he won’t play, but his mouth before he can stop himself.

“Let’s do this,” he replies, and Hendery smiles for the first time since they got there, a smile that glints even in the semidarkness they’re in.

“Great! I’ll start, then,” he says, quickly sobering up. “Why are you so interested in helping us? In helping me?”

“Why wouldn’t I be?” Renjun asks back, and Hendery frowns, causing Renjun to snicker to himself. “It’s in my best interest that you succeed.”

“You've said that before,” Hendery points out, not entirely satisfied with his answer.

Renjun shrugs.

“It’s still true,” Hendery’s face clouds and he purses his lips, but before he can protest any further, Renjun jumps. “It’s my turn now.”

Hendery looks affronted, but eventually sighs, and Renjun brims with excitement.

“Why did you ask me, the most notorious person in the kingdom, to help you if you don’t even want to be king?”

Renjun’s question seems to catch Hendery by surprise, as he flinches, startled. Smiling sheepishly in response, Renjun waits for Hendery’s reply.

“You don’t hold back at all, do you?” Hendery replies, seemingly amused even against his will.

“I’m sorry,” Renjun answers, rubbing the back of his head. Feeling a little bad his curiosity bested him, he adds, “you don’t have to reply if you don’t want to. I can change the question, I don’t mind.”

Hendery shakes his head.

“The rules are the rules. Besides, I would have been more surprised if you hadn’t asked about it at all. You’ve lasted longer than I would have, honestly,” he replies, a small smile playing at the corner of his lips. His eyes, however, are unfocused, staring at something more than what’s in front of them. He doesn’t seem to be seeing much of it at all. “We all have to do what we have to do. I might not particularly want to be a king, nor the responsibilities that come with it, but that’s what I have to do,” his words don’t sound bitter, like Renjun was expecting, but rather resigned, like he’s tired of fighting against something he’ll never defeat.

“There could be another way,” Renjun whispers, his gut tightening in sorrow and pity for the prince standing next to him.

Hendery turns to look at him, the night and bonfires colouring him of ebony and bronze. He looks like a statue, cold and distant despite how close they’re standing, and Renjun hates it. He wishes he could bridge the distance between them, hold Hendery close and tell him it’ll all be alright, but that’s a privilege he doesn’t have and probably never will.

Even if he did, Renjun has never been one to lie to his friends.

“ _You_ were the other way, Renjun,” Hendery replies, and now it’s Renjun’s turn to flinch when he hears the vague amusement in Hendery’s voice. “I don’t blame you, don’t worry. It was a difficult situation and we put ourselves in it. Just because you’re a powerful wizard doesn’t mean you can do everything. You’ve honestly done more than I hoped you to do, so thank you.”

“Thank you?” Renjun repeats, a lump in his throat. 

Hendery nods, staring pensively at the bonfires.

“I thought I’d have to give you my firstborn, my life, or, Heaven forbid it, my brother’s. Saving a princess from a tower and marrying her to save my people isn’t all that bad after all.”

“You could come up with something to save your kingdom, both of your kingdoms,” Renjun insists.

“Like what?” Hendery asks. “We’ve done as much as we could, and this is the only way to go, so, so be it. A true love kiss and we get married, those were the ‘rules’, Renjun to the happily ever after.”

“Then break them,” Renjun replies, feeling anger bubbling up, not directed at Hendery, but at himself, at everything that has brought them to this exact moment. “Rules were made to be broken. Marriage was forever until divorce was invented, no one could reach the sky until we built ourselves wings. Everything is impossible until it isn’t, and if you don’t try to change it, then everything is impossible,” Renjun continues to insist, stubborn.

“Is that what you’re doing?” Hendery asks, a glint to his eye. Taken aback, Renjun stares at him in confusion. “To go back to where you came from? Your world?”

“How…?”

“You’re not the only one who hears things,” Hendery replies with a tiny smile. “Eavesdropping would probably be a more appropriate term, but I think you understand what I mean.”

“You’ve known all this time?” Renjun asks, still wrapping his head around it.

“Not all this time,” Hendery says. “I didn’t really know what to think when I heard you talking to Jeno, but then I decided to pay you close attention and I decided you might be telling the truth so, is that it? Why you want me to succeed, so that you can go home?”

Renjun sighs, pinching the bridge of his nose. Hendery is staring at him, his eyes filled with curiosity, like he’s genuinely interested.

“Yeah,” Renjun finally admits. “That’s why I want you to succeed. Jeno isn’t entirely sure it’ll be enough to bring me back home, but it’s worth a shot, I guess, and if not… If not I don’t know what I’ll do,” he says with a bitter chuckle.

“I hope you can go back,” Hendery replies, honesty obvious in his eyes. “Why do you think that’s the answer, though?”

“Huh?”

“Why would ensuring we get back to the castle and save the kingdom mean you can go home? How did you even know what you had to do, if you’ve never been here?” Renjun averts his eyes, unsure as to how to reply, and something in Hendery’s brain clicks in place. “Unless… Unless you already know how everything ends? But how would you know?”

“Where I come from… Let’s just say I grew up with stories about you,” Renjun replies. He sees what Hendery wants to ask next and he hastily adds, tone pleading, “please, don’t ask. You don’t want to know.”

“That bad?” Hendery asks, all traces of his former smile gone.

Renjun presses his lips into a thin line and looks ahead resolutely.

“My turn,” he replies instead. “If you could, if you weren’t a king or a prince, and you could do anything, what would you do?”

Hendery seems reluctant to let go of the previous conversation but he sighs and shrugs.

“I don’t know. Do all that I haven’t been able to do before. See everything there’s to see, learn as much as I could. See what exists beyond this kingdom,” he replies, and Renjun nods. Silence settles around them as a blanket, enveloping them, and while Hendery makes no move to break it, Renjun can tell there’s something on his mind, and he waits patiently until Hendery finds the words he’s looking for. “How is it? Your world?”

“My world?” Renjun repeats, thinking he must have heard wrong, but Hendery nods. “It’s…,” a million different words fly around in his mind, making it hard to choose just one. “Different,” he settles on one, pronouncing it slowly. Hendery is staring at him, waiting for him to say more, drinking up everything that leaves Renjun’s lips. “It looks nothing like this one. Which isn’t good or bad on itself, just different. Why are you asking?”

“You asked what I’d do if I weren’t a prince or a king, if I could do anything,” Renjun nods, somewhat confused. Hendery shrugs. “Maybe that’s what I’d do.”

“It’s far away, like, really, really far away.”

Hendery shrugs again, nonchalant, even if Renjun can see the tension building on his shoulders, the tense line of his jaw.

“You asked what I’d do if I wasn’t who I am today. It’s nothing more than a dream,” he replies, and slides his eyes towards Renjun’s face, stopping on it for a fraction of a second, “maybe I’d do that. I think I might like it.”

Renjun looks at him, his heart aching for Hendery, fingers itching to reach forward and comfort him, but he manages to rein himself in. As he’s thinking of something to say, the people around them start to become more lively, chatting excitedly as their voices become louder, like they’re waiting for something. 

Surprised, Hendery and Renjun exchange a look, confused expression mirroring each other, and as they’re about to search for the source of the commotion, someone starts to play music.

It’s a tune Renjun has never heard before, but it’s lively and cheerful, and it makes him want to dance, his body almost moving on its own accord. He isn’t the only one feeling that way, as the people around them rush forward, closer to the bonfires, and start dancing wildly. 

Beside Renjun, Hendery looks wide-eyed at the people dancing, as if he hadn’t ever seen something like that, and Renjun laughs loudly. Hendery whips his head around to look at him, brows furrowed, looking slightly affronted, but it doesn’t last long, his frown soon melting away into an embarrassed smile.

“Let’s dance!” Renjun cries out as he places the bottle on the ground, his voice barely audible over the loud music, but Hendery seems to hear him despite that, and shakes his head, his cheeks colouring with embarrassment. “Come on, Hendery! It’ll be fun!” Renjun insists and Hendery shakes his head again.

Renjun then shrugs, throwing Hendery a bright smile before diving into the crowd of people dancing. He doesn’t go too far away, still having Hendery within reach, but the prince soon leaves Renjun’s mind.

Dancing is something Renjun has always loved but lately he hasn’t had much time for it, and even less so once he woke up inside the book. As music washes over him, practically taking control of him, until there’s nothing other than Renjun and the tone he’s dancing to, he realizes just how much he has missed it. 

It’s easy to get lost in the music, in the way his body moves, without as much as a thought. There’s something different about dancing in a crowd full of people you don’t know, and while Renjun wouldn’t normally do it, the exhilaration that comes from the music has him forgetting his inhibitions, throwing all cares to the wind, and he finds himself dancing with people he’s never met, grinning so wide it threatens to split his face in two.

He jumps and laughs, dancing like it’s the last chance he’ll have to do it, giving it his everything and, as he turns around, he finds Hendery staring at him, with something that looks like fondness shining in his eyes. 

Smiling brightly, Renjun goes back to Hendery, his hand extended in front of him.

“Come on, Hendery! It’s fun, I promise!” He shouts to be heard.

Despite his efforts, Hendery doesn’t seem to hear him, and he comes closer to Renjun, so much Renjun is practically speaking into his ear. He repeats himself and Hendery takes a step back, a hesitant look briefly clouding his face. Renjun sees it, though, and jumps at the opportunity.

“Just a little bit! I promise it’ll be fun, and everything will be alright!”

Hendery doesn’t appear to be too convinced, but Renjun takes a step back, closer into the crowd, and extends his hand for Hendery to take it. After a brief hesitation, Hendery nods, more to himself than to Renjun, and wraps his fingers around Renjun’s hand. 

His smile growing even wider, Renjun drags Hendery closer towards the crowd.

At first, Hendery doesn’t know what to do, standing still besides Renjun, but it doesn’t take long before he, too, let's go. He’s a good dancer, even if it’s clear he’s not used to that type of dancing, his movements stiff and more solemn at first, but soon he takes a look at those around them and starts copying their moves. 

Renjun laughs as he sees Hendery dancing, carefree and with a smile that lights up his whole face. He looks freer than Renjun has ever seen him, and he wishes he had a camera, or even his phone, anything to record what’s going on and be able to remember it always. His brain supplies him with a spell, murmured in a small corner of his mind, one that would allow him to store these moments and carry them around with him, and Renjun contemplates it for a second before his smile falters.

It’s then that Hendery looks at him, a mixture of joy and sorrow in his eyes, and he opens his mouth to say something. Before he can do it, though, the music slows down almost to a stop, the tune becoming softer, mellow and almost nostalgic. The dancing slows down too, most of the dancers pairing up and softly swinging to the new music.

Hendery keeps looking at Renjun, a silent question forming in his dark eyes, and Renjun takes a step forward, closer to Hendery, almost invading his personal space, each of them breathing in the other. Hendery extends a hand, his fingers almost grazing Renjun’s wrist, but as he’s about to touch it he drops his hand. 

Surprised, Renjun raises his eyes from where he had been tracking Hendery’s movements to look at his face, and his eyes catch sight of the hand delicately resting on the crook of Hendery’s elbow. Yerim gracefully slips between Renjun and Hendery, breaking the eye contact between them without as much as a look in Renjun’s direction.

“Would you like to dance?” She asks, her voice as soft as the music that surrounds them.

Hendery’s eyes find Renjun’s for a moment over Yerim’s head, and Renjun sketches his best smile. With a small nod, he turns away.

“Of course,” he hears Hendery reply, his voice as amicable as it always is when speaking to Yerim.

Renjun leaves them both behind, not sparing them a last glance. Out of the corner of his eye, he spies Jeno and Hyejoo, the later not far away from where the princess is, but he doesn’t stop to talk to any of them. He walks back towards the inn they’re staying, closing the door behind him as soon as he sets foot inside, and making his way to his bed. 

He spares a look at the cloak he still keeps, the one he pretends isn’t Hendery’s and Hendery pretends Renjun hasn’t kept. He pushes it aside, away from sight, as he pushes aside all thoughts about Hendery dancing, smiling, bronze and ebony under the night sky, as he pushes aside his kindness and deference, and forces himself to forget.

When Hendery comes back to their room, hours later, he ignores his presence, keeping his eyes close shut even when Hendery softly calls out his name. Guilt gnaws at him when he does that, but he keeps it at bay, pretending he can’t hear the prince at all. 

He feels his heart galloping inside his chest, and fears he has made the mistake he was supposed to prevent.


	4. Chapter 4

The castle, that was nothing more than a speck of dust in the distance, is suddenly in front of them, gleaming under the evening Sun. 

When they started going up the hill, the castle still looked far away in the distance, still days away but the moment they reached the summit, it changed. Suddenly, the castle is very much in front of them, so close it seems like they could almost touch it, although Renjun is sure that is an optical effect due to the castle’s sheer size.

Pulling on the horses' reins, they stop to watch the castle, it’s white walls reflecting the Sun, making it look almost like a pearl, engrained between hills.

“It’s really beautiful,” Renjun comments and the others agree.

Hendery nods, a small smile on his face, and he says nothing. Soon, Hyejoo and Yerim are on the move again, tired but decided to get to the castle as soon as possible, its sight enough to reinvigorate them. Renjun is about to follow them when he catches sight of Hendery’s expression.

“Is everything okay?” He asks after a moment’s consideration. Even if their relationship is not as bad as it once was, it’s still new, and it feels like they’ve struck a tentative truce, shaky after the most recent developments.

At first, it doesn’t look like Hendery is about to reply.

“I wasn’t sure it’d still be here by the time I came back,” he admits, barely loud enough for Renjun to hear him.

“But it is,” he replies. Hendery looks at him, a vulnerable, open look in his eyes, and Renjun finds it hard to breathe. “You made it. It’s not too late to save your kingdom. You’ll get married,” he continues, ignoring the bitter aftertaste those words leave in his mouth, “and you’ll be able to keep your people safe.”

This time, Hendery’s reply takes even longer than it did before and his eyes are clouded. He bites his bottom lip, before sketching a weak smile, eyes lingering on Renjun for a brief moment.

“Yeah, I guess you are right. It’s pointless to worry about what it could have been, we’re almost there anyway.” 

With that, Hendery spurs his horse on, leaving Renjun behind without sparing him so much as a glance. Sighing, Renjun pushes his thoughts away, and follows him.

***

The wedding preparations are wild, and Renjun often finds himself pushing his body flat against the wall, trying to stay out of the way of the people running all around the castle, going from one place to another to make sure the wedding is perfect.

Renjun spends those days as if in a daze. He barely sees Hendery, and when he does, the latter looks stressed out of his mind, with barely enough time to throw a tense smile in Renjun’s general direction. Jeno is missing all the time, and Hyejoo and Yerim spend their days locked up in the princess’ room, getting ready for the wedding, the most important event of the year.

As it is, Renjun spends quite some time alone, without much to do. The first couple of days he would wander around the castle, but he quickly desisted from his strolls when his poor orientation proved itself to be quite the hassle, always getting him lost around the castle. Eventually, he found a garden, a spacious and green one, that most people seemed to avoid, probably due to the amount of work they had to do. It was peaceful, and it gave Renjun a breather, and a chance to take his mind off things.

He made it a point to carry one of the other Renjun’s sketchbooks with him and found that drawing relaxed him. Or at least, that used to be the case. There was something off about his drawings right then, something weird but on which he couldn’t put his finger, and it was unnerving him.

He had started simple enough, drawing flowers and trees and whatever objects he could see, but once he had somehow managed to master those (at least to a level in which they were sufficiently recognizable), he had grown bored, and decided to turn towards real people. It was harder than he expected, especially when all those he drew were people he saw in the passing, from afar, but he didn’t think that was entirely the reason his drawings looked… Off. There was something else there, something gnawing at his brain, and he didn’t really know what it was.

He is deeply engrossed in one of those drawings when a shadow falls on top of him, blocking him the Sun. Surprised, he raises his eyes, only to find a grim-looking Jeno staring down at him, his lips pursed in displeasure.

“Jeno,” he says. “I hadn’t heard you coming.”

Jeno doesn’t even bother with a nod, and doesn’t even acknowledge Renjun’s words, instead looking at him, not saying anything. Renjun squirms in his seat.

“Can I help you?” Renjun asks carefully, his eyes inspecting Jeno’s face. The latter closes his hands into fists, and his mouth twitches.

“We’ve been here for days,” he says, eyes hard. “Don’t you think you’re forgetting something?”

“Jeno…,” Renjun starts, unsure of how to proceed, but he doesn’t need to. Jeno snorts in disdain, like he is already expecting Renjun’s answer, even though he hasn’t said a thing.

“I kept my word, Renjun. I helped you bring them here, safe and sound, and now it’s your turn to do the same. Or am I expected to wait until you go back home?”

“Jeno…,” Renjun tries again, but Jeno won’t let him, anger colouring his words, his hands shaking.

“I knew you wouldn’t hold your promise,” he replies. “You probably never even intended to let me go, did you? No matter where you came from, you are exactly the same as he is, disloyal and dishonest. Hell, you even draw the same way as he did, you’re both despicable.”

Renjun stares, wide-eyed and with his mouth hanging open, as Jeno retreats as fast as he can, like he can’t wait to put enough distance between them. His gaze then falls onto the sketchbook laying on his lap, the drawings on it long-forgotten, eyes looking at them but not really seeing, not with his mind brimming with thoughts.

Almost on their own accord, Renjun’s fingers latch onto the last page of the sketchbook, where he had transcribed the spell that would set Jeno free. The words stare at him, black ink against the stark white, almost mocking him. They know as well as he does how long they’ve been sitting there, waiting for the day Renjun would finally put them to use. There’s no excuse as to why he hasn’t used them yet, except for the fact that he’s afraid, terrified even.

Before he can delve deeper into that, and chicken out once again, Renjun bolts from the bench he was seated on and runs in the direction Jeno left.

“Jeno!” He shouts when he spots him, a small figure retreating into the distance.

Jeno hears him, freezing for a moment before moving again, like he doesn’t want to face Renjun, but he keeps shouting, so much Jeno can’t ignore him.

“What?” He asks, not bothering to mask the coldness in his words or the anger that burns in his eyes.

Renjun looks at him before tilting his head, looking down.

“I’m sorry,” he says, and he can feel Jeno’s surprise as he takes a step back. He doesn’t seem convinced, crossing his arms in front of his chest, but he does seem willing to listen to whatever Renjun has to say. “There’s no excuse, I know there isn’t, but I’m still sorry. I did intend on using the spell and setting you free but…,” he closes his eyes, clenching his teeth, before taking a deep breath. “You’re the only one who knows me, who would talk to me and not run away scared, and I didn’t want to lose you. I’m really sorry,” he repeats. “I’m really sorry, I should have done this a long time ago, but I can’t change the past. I can, however, do something now.”

With that, he takes the sketchbook, opening it by the last page, and reads the words written on them. His hands shake a little as he reads, and his voice is hesitant at first, but the more he speaks the more confident he feels.

Finally, he reads the last line of the spell and closes the sketchbook. Nervous, he looks up, and finds Jeno staring at him with an expression he hasn’t ever seen before on his face. There’s bewilderment in Jeno’s dark eyes, open wider than they’ve ever been in all the time they’ve known each other. His face is pale and his lips tremble, before slowly stretching into a smile, the brightest Renjun has ever seen.

“Thank you,” Jeno whispers, his eyes shining with unshed tears.

Renjun nods weakly, smiling back. He tries to say something but finds himself enveloped by Jeno’s strong arms, who hugs him close to his chest, and mumbles a litany of thank you’s. Surprised by Jeno’s reaction, Renjun stumbles a little, before tentatively hugging Jeno back.

“You don’t have to thank me,” he whispers. “You can go anywhere, now, go back to him, if you want,” he murmurs, tightening his grip on Jeno.

He doesn’t know how long they spend hugging each other, but by the time they disentangle from each other, Jeno’s face is wet with tears, his smile as bright as ever.

“It’s been so long, he… You don’t know how much this means to mean, thank you, Renjun,” Jeno says once again, before turning away and sprinting towards the castle.

Renjun watches him run away, a bittersweet feeling in his chest, and sighs. He knows it was the right thing to do, but still, it’s weighing him down. He casts his eyes down, and runs his hands over the sketchbook, silently taking in the drawings it contains. He guesses that’s what loneliness makes to you, makes you cling to whatever you have, as strong as you possibly can. Maybe it’s time to let go, whatever the consequences.

Pinching his nose bridge, Renjun feels a headache incoming, but he knows what he has to do. This story isn’t over, after all.

***

Renjun knocks on the door that leads to the princess’ chamber and after a minute, the door opens, a girl slipping out, closing the door behind her as she does so.

“I came to talk to the princess,” Renjun tells Hyejoo.

Hyejoo stares at him like she already expected him to come, and her expression doesn’t change.

“I’m sorry, but the princess is getting ready for her wedding. As you can imagine, she has no time for you. You’ll have to come back some other time.”

“It’s important,” Renjun insists.

“I said no,” Hyejoo replies. She stands straight, and while she’s shorter, more delicate, than Renjun is, something in him tells him she won’t hesitate to forcibly stop him from coming into Yerim’s chamber if he tried to do anything. “Leave,” she says when Renjun stays where he is, holding his gaze.

Renjun looks at Hyejoo, and an image shimmers in the back of his mind. He thinks of the princess slipping on their way there, almost tumbling down the slope of a mountain to sure death. He thinks of Hendery, standing right beside her, and how strong hands come to grip Yerim’s arm and circle her waist, a firm but gentle grip on her to prevent her from falling.

He thinks of Hyejoo, who reacted faster than any of them, holding the princess like she was the most precious bring in the world.

He thinks of a maiden, cold eyes, stern lips, gentle hands, the first to rise and the last to fall asleep, a silent shadow walking beside Yerim, never leaving her side.

“The dragon never left the castle, did it?” He asks then, softly.

Hyejoo looks at him under furrowed brows, confused.

“Excuse me?”

“The dragon never left,” Renjun repeats. “Or rather, there was never a dragon in the first place. It was always you, wasn’t it?”

As soon as Renjun’s words leave his lips he realizes it’s the thing that makes the most sense, and he nods to himself. At the same time, as he spoke, Hyejoo had tensed up, her hand going to her hips, before relaxing once again.

“You’re smarter than I thought, I’ll give you that,” she replies, the faintest trace of humour in her voice. It disappears soon, however. “You still can’t go in, Renjun.”

Turning around, her hand goes for the door’s handle, not sparing Renjun even a minute of her time. As she opens the door, though, he speaks.

“I know what she wants to do,” Hyejoo’s movement falters, but she doesn’t look back. “I know what she plans on doing with Hendery,” he insists.

Hyejoo then turns around, leaving the door partially opened behind her as she faces Renjujn, silent anger burning in her eyes.

“I don’t know what you think you’re doing, but I’m warning you, wizard. Leave my princess alone.”

“I will when I can talk to her,” Renjun replies, serenely.

Hyejoo takes a step towards Renjun but then a soft voice comes from the inside.

“Let him in, Hyejoo. We might just get over with this,” Yerim instructs.

Hyejoo clenches her teeth, but steps aside, allowing Renjun inside, closing the door behind them both.

Without waiting for Hyejoo to guide him, Renjun strolls towards the bedroom and walks in. There, seated by the dresser in a gown the colour of snow, is Yerim. She looks radiant, some her dark hair swept up and pushed away from her face, the rest of it cascading down her shoulders and back. A necklace of silver and pearl rests around her neck, with matching earrings dangling from her ears.

For a moment, Renjun can see it, Yerim and Hendery seated together, a couple of powerful, beautiful royals, and he hesitates for a fraction of a second, before snapping out of it.

He walks up to Yerim and stands in front of her. The princess looks at him with a serene smile on her lips, and a calculating glint in her eyes. It’s always been there, Renjun realizes, hidden by a smile designed to blind everyone who looked at her. Behind her, the doors to a narrow balcony are wide open, a light breeze coming in, making the curtains flutter in the wind.

The image shakes something in the back of Renjun’s mind, but it’s too faint for him to grasp it, and he shakes his head.

“You can’t do this,” Renjun says. Yerim raises her brows, exchanging a look with Hyejoo, who stands a little to Renjun’s left.

“Do what, exactly?”

“Use Hendery like this,” Renjun replies through clenched teeth. “He’s not your toy.”

Yerim furrows her brows, something like confusion and worry in her expression, but Renjun sees it, the glint of mirth there and then gone, the laugh tucked away, hidden in the corner of her lips.

“I don’t know what you’re talking about, Renjun. Of course he’s not a toy, he’s a prince, my savior,” she says.

“He’s more than a stepping stool for you to rise to power, Yerim,” Renjun replies. “You can’t use him like that.”

Something that Renjun says seems to tick her off, her expression clouding. Hyejoo takes a step forward, but a quick gesture from Yerim is enough to make her retreat to her previous position.

“Use him? How exactly am I using him, Renjun? Could you please enlighten me?”

Renjun scans Yerim’s face, but the princess has schooled her features into a mask of calm composure, and there’s nothing he can find there.

“You want him to get your throne back,” he replies and Yerim smiles, barely a tug of her lips.

“And you think that means I’m using him?” She replies back. Calmly, she stands up, her eyes never leaving Renjun’s face, and he has to contain himself not to take a step back. “And what about him? Isn’t he using me? And because of your own advice, that is. Isn’t that wrong? Why can he do it, but not me, Renjun? Tell me.”

“You don’t care about him, you only want his throne, and what it entails.”

“And so does he, Renjun!” Yerim replies, raising her voice for the first time since he’s known her. She comes closer to Renjun, fury shining in her eyes. “He knew the terms of our agreement before he even set foot in that goddamn tower. It’s a mutually beneficial partnership, I don’t know what you could complain about. You should be equally bothered on my behalf, if ‘using’ each other is what you find so disturbing. Unless, of course, it isn’t…,” she says, dropping her voice.

Renjun clenches his teeth.

“He thinks you care about him as a person, and not just as a prince. He cares about _you_ , Yerim, and you’re lying to him.”

Yerim snorts, amused.

“It’s not my fault he’s a fool. And who says I don’t care about him? I only have my priorities, just like he has his, and mine haven’t changed. They’re the same they were before I even went into that tower, and they won’t change until the day I die, prince or no prince, and I’m sure he’d agree with me on this,” she says, turning away from Renjun and walking closer to the balcony, her hair floating behind her as the wind gently blows through the open doors.

“You never told him.”

“He never asked,” she simply replies.

There’s an air of finality to her words, like she’s done with their conversation, and Hyejoo hears it too. She takes a step closer to Renjun, probably to throw him out of the room if need be, but Renjun isn’t done yet.

“Were you ever under a sleeping spell?” He spits out.

The question makes Yerim tense up, and she turns her head slightly to the side, looking at Hyejoo and him from over his shoulder.

“Of course I was,” she whispers.

Renjun looks at her and then at Hyejoo, and nods to himself, pieces falling into place. Hyejoo is pale, staring at Renjun like she’s two seconds away from throwing him out the balcony, but a look from Yerim is enough to make her stay put, going so far as to taking a step back, the strain obvious on her face.

“He’d help you if you told him, and you know that. He’d find a way,” Renjun turns back to look at Yerim.

“I can’t be sure of that, and neither can you. What I do know is that I can’t risk losing my kingdom, not for this,” she says, frustration palpable in her voice. “I will do whatever it takes,” her words sound calmer now, like she’s promising it.

“And if he ever got in the way?” Renjun asks, almost shouting.

Yerim’s answer is a deafening silence, and that tells Renjun all he needs to know.

“You can’t do that,” he whispers.

“Do what, Renjun?” Yerim lets out a bitter laugh, one that makes it obvious she finds the whole thing as odious as he does, but it’s not enough. “You don’t know what I know or seen what I have. When it comes to it, we all do what needs to be done, even if it kills us. We justify it whatever way we can, because we know it’s the only choice, and pretend it didn’t cost us a thing,” she continues, looking straight at Hyejoo, the longing palpable in her face.

Renjun takes a step back, his heart beating loudly in his ears. The room spins wildly around him, making it hard to focus. The room, atop the tallest tower in the castle, away from everything else.

It crosses Renjun’s mind in a flash, one that makes him feel like he’s drowning. He thinks of the ending of that story, the one of a lonely wizard who always had to choose between the wall and the sword. 

He thinks of a body falling down to its demise. 

Sometimes, two, occasionally, three.

He thinks of it and he sees Yerim and Hendery and Jeno, even Hyejoo, and he thinks he understands. There are words spinning in his mind, ones that he knows will command the winds and he balls his hands into fists.

Behind them, beyond the doors that lead to the room, they can suddenly hear voices. Someone knocks on the door, and Hendery’s voice reaches them.

“Yerim?” He asks. “Are you there?”

The three of them freeze, a slight panic obvious in Yerim’s eyes. She looks at Renjun, and he can almost see what she thinks written on her face.

Time is running out.

“You are right,” he finally replies, his throat parched. “In the end, we all do.”

***

“Renjun! Renjun stop!”

The cries for him grow louder as Hendery approaches him and Renjun has to resist the impulse to fasten his pace, to run away from the prince. Instead, he stops and waits patiently for Hendery to catch up, hoping his smile is enough to convince the other everything is fine.

Hendery is out of breath when he reaches Renjun, his face slightly red with exertion, but he doesn’t even wait to catch his breath.

“You’re leaving,” he blurts out.

Renjun takes an involuntary step back, bewildered, and his smile falters on his face for a second. Hendery must see that, for his looks even more crestfallen than before.

“You’re really leaving,” Hendery repeats, quieter this time. Renjun can’t quite stand the sadness in his eyes, and turn his face away, looking somewhere else.

“Why are you saying that?” Renjun asks instead of replying.

“Is it untrue?” Hendery asks back.

Renjun closes his eyes, briefly wishing he hadn’t stopped at all.

“No, it isn’t,” he says. “How did you know?”

“Jeno told me,” Hendery admits, and Renjun twists his lips into a bitter smile. “Don’t get mad at him,” Hendery pleads as he sees Renjun’s expression. “I didn’t give him a choice, I wouldn’t stop pestering him.”

“I don’t think there’s anyone on this planet that can force Jeno into doing something he doesn’t want to do, at least not without magic,” Renjun replies. “And if there is, then it’s for sure not one of us.”

Hendery smiles at him, a brief and amused smile, and Renjun’s own mirrors that of Hendery’s, but the prince sobers up quickly.

“Why are you leaving?” He asks, his face sombre.

“You know why,” he answers, and hopes Hendery won’t push the issue.

“You have to go back home,” Hendery replies, eyes cast down.

Relief floods Renjun’s veins for a moment, and he hopes it won’t show in his face.

“I do. You’re here, and you’re getting married, and everything went well, so I’m no longer needed here. I did what I had to do and now, hopefully, I’ll be able to go back. I missed being there,” he confesses, voice barely over a whisper. “I miss my friends and my parents and my house and I really want to go back.”

“Can’t you go back after the wedding?” Hendery insists. Renjun wishes he hadn’t.

“I can’t,” he replies, his voice dropping even lower than before. “I just… I can’t,” he repeats, at a loss for words when he sees Hendery’s hopeful look in his eyes.

Walking away from the tower, leaving Yerim, Hyejoo and Hendery there like everything was alright had been hard enough. It had taken all of Renjun’s willpower to leave without doing anything rash, and he thinks he understands. He thinks he knows now, gets the other Renjun better than he ever thinks he could.

But if walking away had been hard, witnessing the wedding would take away a part of Renjun he’s not sure he’d ever get back. He doesn’t know if his willpower would last through the ceremony.

Hendery seems to sense that, though, and nods, sketching a smile that doesn’t reach his eyes.

“I understand,” he repeats. “You’ve done more than enough for me, it’d be selfish of me to ask you to stay when you have your own life to go back to.”

“I’m sorry,” Renjun whispers. He keeps his hands behind his back, refraining himself from doing something he’d regret.

Hendery shakes his head.

“Don’t be, I understand. We all do what we have to do. Thank you, for everything you’ve done, I’m not sure where we’d be if it hadn’t been for you,” he says instead.

_I know_ , Renjun thinks, but he manages to keep quiet. 

He tries to come up with a suitable reply but before he can do that, there are strong arms over his shoulders, enveloping in warmth, and he’s pulled towards Hendery’s chest. Surprised, Renjun all but stumbles forward and Renjun holds him fiercely, like he doesn’t want him to go.

Hesitant, Renjun puts his arms around Hendery’s waist, causing the prince to hug him even stronger than he did before.

“Thank you so much, Renjun. You really don’t know how much it meant to me, everything you’ve done,” Hendery whispers next to his ear and Renjun closes his eyes.

“There’s nothing to thank me for, Hendery. Don’t worry about it,” he replies, feeling slightly out of air.

Hendery finally steps back, releasing Renjun, who mourns the loss of warmth as soon as it’s gone, but he smiles instead.

“Good luck, Renjun,” Hendery tells him. There’s a sad edge to his smile, and Renjun wants to reach forward and wipe it away, but he knows best.

With one last sad look in Renjun’s direction, Hendery turns around to go back to his room but a hand around his wrist stops him from doing so. Surprised, Hendery looks at Renjun.

“Be careful with Yerim,” he warns. Ignoring Hendery’s surprised stare, he presses on. “Do what you must, but be careful with her. She has her own plans and she only wants your throne.”

“Don’t they all,” Hendery says with a sardonic smile. It’s Renjun’s turn to be surprised, mouth hanging open, and Hendery’s smile turns softer. “Don’t worry about it. Everything will be fine, I’ll take of everything, Renjun.”

“I know you will, but be careful,” he insists, and Hendery earnestly nods. “And… Be nice to the other Renjun when he comes back. I have a feeling he’ll need it,” Hendery looks confused by that, but he nods again.

“Don’t worry about it,” Hendery replies. “You’re free to go,” he says, and Renjun nods, his throat dry.

***

Wedding bells ring loudly in the distance when Renjun looks ahead, to the door that will lead him home. He’s alone as he takes that first step, faint tears trailing down his cheeks.

He does not once look back.

***

Opening his eyes to find he was back home was surprisingly easy. He doesn’t quite know what happened during the days he was gone, only that he had lost about a week of his life, instead of the couple of months he had spent in the book’s world, and that his friends seemed relieved to have him go back to his usual self. Neither Jaemin nor Hyuck went into much detail about what had gone on with him during that time and Renjun chose not to ask either.

Going back to his usual routine was easier and harder than he expected. It is good to be back but sometimes he’ll find himself wondering how the others were doing, what has happened to them since he has left. It is hard to get rid of those thoughts.

Jaemin and Hyuck seem to have sensed that, and have made it their personal task to make sure Renjun is distracted and accompanied for as long as possible.

“Hyuck I swear I’ll be fine tonight,” Renjun groans at his friend, who has spent the entirety of his break pestering him through the phone. “You and Nana should enjoy your date night without me there, I’ve already seen enough PDA for a lifetime, please spare me tonight,” Renjun pleads. 

“Are you sure?” Hyuck’s resolve starts to waver and Renjun latches at the opportunity. “I don’t want you to be alone.”

“I am sure, Hyuck, I swear. We can go out some other time but you don’t have to be with me at all times, I won’t break. Go enjoy your date with your boyfriend.”

On the other end, Hyuck sighs and Renjun knows he’s won.

“Okay but we’re going out tomorrow, I don’t care what you say,” Hyuck threats.

“Whatever you say, Hyuck,” Renjun replies, with a seemingly exasperate voice, even if he’s smiling fondly as his friend speaks. “Okay I have to go now, have fun,” he adds, and hangs up on Hyuck before his friend can say anything.

It is still weird to think that, sometime along the time Renjun was gone, Hyuck and Jaemin, mainly Hyuck, have gotten their heads out their asses and finally realized they belong together, but it’s nice, too. Renjun still doesn’t know what happened, exactly, but he plans on interrogating Hyuck as soon as he can get him alone.

He doesn’t know if any of them have given much thought to the spell Jaemin once did, to the ‘soulmate’ it spoke of, or if they have thought about the ramifications that night might have had. He just hopes the magic that dragged him to a different world has a better result with them, at least.

He’s happy for his friends, he truly is. It was finally time they took that step.

Now, however, there are other things in Renjun’s mind. He ties his apron behind his waist and slips back to his usual place, right in time to hear the bell ring.

“Renjun, you got them?” Mark, his supervisor, asks, and Renjun throws him a thumbs up. “Great, Jisung, please don’t get distracted again,” he tiredly asks their other coworker. 

Jisung, as sweet as he might be, tends to space out quite a bit, and he mumbles an embarrassed apology when he hears Mark’s words.

Renjun tunes out their bickering and focuses on the next customers.

“The usual?” He asks with his best smile.

“Yes, thank you!” A pair of smiley eyes reply from behind thin-wired glasses. “How’s uni going?”

Renjun shrugs as he punches in the commands for their order.

“You know, the usual. Lots of work, exams are nightmare… What about you?”

“Oh, Jeno just finished his, so we’re going out to celebrate!” A boy excitedly screams as he comes out of nowhere.

“Lele, careful,” Jeno warns as Chenle almost throws him to the ground when he back-hugs him, but the smile on his face is full of fondness.

“You’re finally done, then?” Renjun asks Jeno as he grabs their orders.

“Yeah, at least for this semester. No more library for me for the next few weeks,” he replies with a bright smile. “Maybe we could go out when you’re done, see each other somewhere that isn’t the library or the cafe,” he suggests.

Renjun’s smile is wide and bright as the Sun.

“I’d love that, I’ll let you know when I’m done!” He exclaims as he hands them their coffee, which Jeno grabs with one hand, the other firmly holding Chenle’s.

“Great! Good luck with your exams!” They both say as they exit the coffee shop, their linked hands swinging between them.

Renjun watches them leave with a fond smile, glad that, at least somewhere, Jeno managed to get together with the love of his life. He can only hope he’s as lucky there as he is here. Beside her, Jisung continues handing out orders.

“Guanheng!”

“That’s me,” a man replies, and Renjun freezes, the familiar voice ringing in his ears.

Heart beating loudly in his ears, he looks to the side, and he finds a familiar face, dark eyes under dark hair, a long fringe that partially hides his face, but Renjun doesn’t need more to know who he is.

He finds his throat is dry, hands shaking, unable to say anything.

Then their eyes meet, and Renjun can almost swear he sees the beginning of a surprised smile, and, maybe, a spark of recognition shining there.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And this is it! I really, really hope you've enjoyed it. I wanted to do so much with this story and I fear I haven't managed to do so. I wished to give fairy tales a little spin, but I think this fic should have been longer to properly do so. Anyway, I hope this was at least interesting, and worth the read!  
> Thank you so much to those of you who've read it, and I really hope you enjoyed it! Thank you to those of you who have suffered me while I was writing this too, I know I become something else but this wouldn't be here without you jsjsjsjs  
> To the lovely prompter behind this fic, I hope you know you have a galaxy brain, and you really made me fall in love with this prompt, I really, really wish this was somewhat what you had in mind.  
> Comments and kudos warm my heart <3  
> [tw](https://twitter.com/starryjinsouls) || [cc](https://curiouscat.me/Val_99)
> 
> \- Val


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